7 Greener Options for Give-Away USB Flash Drives

Eco-Friendly Plastic USB Flash Drives

Ecolution Think Green T530 Photo via Hirsch Gift

There are a lot more options for flash drives with plastic casings coming out, and that includes the use of recycled plastic. The Ecolution Think Green T530 drive is made of post-consumer recyclables collected from commercial and residential recycling programs, and is being used by companies that are trying to reduce their footprint, such as TreeHugger sister site Animal Planet, as seen above. The drive comes in size options ranging from 128 MB to 8 GB. Making it a little cooler as a gift rather than give-away, it comes in a recycled gift box.

Green Line Recycled Shell Drive GS

Photo via Pinnacle Promotions

The Green Line is a USB flash drive made from 100% recycled ABS plastic. The company through which we found this option has a couple other recycled plastic options. In fact, it has a pretty great selection of all kinds of recycled, reusable, and natural products to choose from. Like the Think Green T530, it comes in a case, only it is made of recycled cardboard rather than recycled plastic.

The Earthdrive

Photo via Alternative Consumer

This drive touts itself as the world’s first earth-friendly USB drive. While that is questionable, it does have some great features. It is made from bio-recycled plastics and is fully recyclable at the end of its life. It is also made to last as it is shock proof, water proof and dust proof. Taking it a tree-hugging step further, a portion of all EarthDrive product sales goes towards the planting of trees through their partnership with American Forests. It might not be the cheapest option from a promo item, but it would show customers that you value green thinking.

It's Up To Consumers, Too

Of course, it’s also up to customers to think greenly when it comes to these drives. If you’re being handed a promo flash drive that you don’t need it, perhaps consider passing it up and just asking for the companies URL to gather more information about them.

If you simply want it because it looks awesome, as so many of these do, then remember to properly recycle it when it reaches the end of its useful life. There are gads of programs out there that take in old flash drives and redistribute them to students, which is a great way to extend the life of the drive.

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