Smencils are scented pencils made from 100%, tightly-rolled newspaper in place of wood or plastic. They're useful, they're attractive, they're infused with delicious fruity fragrances and best of all, they save trees!

Here are some fun facts about these super-fun, do-good pencils courtesy the smelly (in a good way) folks at Smencils:

1. An average sized cedar tree will make about 172,000 wood pencils.
2. 172,000 Smencils can be made from 430 newspapers.
3. Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times saves about 75,000 trees.
4. The average tree can filter about 60 pounds of air pollution per year.
5. If everyone in the United States recycled one tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees each year.
6. Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution.
7. The 17 trees mentioned above can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
8. Corn-based biodegradable plastic fully degrades in 47 days under optimal conditions.
9. Corn-based biodegradable plastic generates 68% fewer greenhouse gases and contains no toxins.
10. Producing corn-based biodegradable plastic uses 65% less energy than producing conventional plastics.

And if all this eco-excellence isn't enough, Smencils make for one mighty fundraiser -- think 45% profit!

Are you a Smencils fan? Have you run a Smencils fundraiser? We'd love to hear your feedback.