Refilling the Retractables
The Bygone Age of Non-disposable Pens
In my forthcoming book, Rummage. Salvaging History, I look at some objects designed to be reused or refilled, such as milk bottles. Reuse is usually more environmentally friendly than recycling, as it involves less energy. In the 1970s, Friends of the Earth tried to persuade Cadbury’s Schweppes to retain their returnable drinks bottles, for which a deposit was paid and then returned once the bottle was taken back to the supplier. Despite their campaigning for reuse, the charity became known as champions of recycling.
In the 1950s, pen manufacturers marketed ballpoint pens that could be refilled by the customer herself. In 1955 Biro advertised their refillable ‘Retractable de Luxe’, with the pen (which arrived in a ‘gay presentation box’) costing 8/6 and the refill 1/6 (above).
Daily Herald, November 1955, p. 4.
Biro recharge medium, from around the 1960s. Author’s own collection.
This refill, kept safe in a stoppered plastic tube, has ‘Biro’ engraved twice around the nib, separated by a little star. Instructions that came with a Biro Swan ‘Magnum’ sold in the 1950s show how the refills ought to be inserted:
By the end of the twentieth century, Bic Biros had become synonymous with throwaway pens, disposed of once the ink was dry, and never refilled.