Our 7 top picks for the best eco-friendly planners for 2024 tailored to different design choices and organizational needs, including options for minimalists, creatives, and professionals.
Every purchase we make, even the smallest ones, has an impact on the environment. When purchasing a new planner, sustainability may be the last thing on your mind, but the planner you choose can be one of many choices that helps to reduce your environmental footprint. Choosing a planner made from sustainable materials is not just about reducing waste; it's part of a larger picture, rethinking our resources and how we use them.
There are hundreds if not thousands, of planners that you can choose from, and it can be tricky to identify companies that prioritize creating an eco-friendly product.
In this post, we'll explore the key features to look for in an eco-friendly planner and provide our favorite options for some of the top sustainable planners to get you ready for the New Year.
Whether you're a minimalist looking for simplicity, a creative seeking flexibility, a busy professional needing detailed organization, or an individual aiming to get your personal life in order, there is an eco-conscious planner perfect for your needs. Read on for our tips and recommendations!
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Quick Summary: Our Top Picks For Best Eco-Friendly Planners
1) Best Blank Planner for Flexibility and Creativity: JSTORY Medium Weekly Planner
2) Best Eco-Friendly Bullet Journal: Dingbats Notebooks
3) Best Planner For Organizing Personal and Family Life: Blue Lake ECOLIFE Eco-Friendly Monthly & Weekly Life Planner Kit
4) Best Planner for Organizing Finances: Scribble & Dot Budget Planner
5) Best Reusable Planner: Levenger 2024 Circa smartPlanner Weekly Agenda Notebook
6) Best Basic Planner for Minimalists: Green Dreamer
7) Best Eco-Friendly Planner for Professionals: The Karst Weekly Planner
Key Features To Look For In An Eco-Friendly Planner
When choosing a planner, it's essential to consider its environmental impact. An eco-friendly planner should have features that reduce waste, utilize sustainable practices, and support ethical production. Here are some key things to look for:
- Recycled Paper: Paper planners should be made from recycled materials rather than virgin tree pulp. This reduces the need for new tree harvesting.
- Sustainable Packaging: Look for minimal, recyclable, or compostable packaging to avoid unnecessary waste. Avoid plastic whenever possible.
- Sustainable Ink: Soy ink is a more renewable resource than petroleum-based options. Recycling paper printed with soy and other plant-based inks is also easier.
- Natural Cover Materials: Covers made of durable, natural materials like linen have a lower environmental impact than synthetic materials. You can also opt for vegan options such as a faux leather cover.
Certifications: The Eco-Friendly Stamp of Approval
When shopping for a green planner, look for certain labels that tell you it's truly eco-friendly.
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification: This certification ensures that the paper comes from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits.
- Green Seal: Green Seal® is a global nonprofit organization that certifies products and services that meet the highest health and environmental leadership standards based on rigorous sustainability measures for product performance and company practices.
Look For Sustainable Paper Options
Using recycled paper is one of the most impactful ways planner companies can reduce their environmental footprint. Recycled paper conserves trees, water, and energy compared to virgin paper production.
Many eco-conscious planners opt for paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This ensures the paper comes from responsibly managed forests.
Beyond traditional recycled paper, some planners utilize alternative sustainable materials:
- Stone Paper: Stone paper is made primarily of limestone and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resin. It is a tree-free, water-free, and acid-free alternative to traditional paper.
- Post-Consumer Waste Paper: This recyclable paper is made from recycled consumer waste. It's a common material in sustainable planners since it reduces the need for virgin paper and the associated environmental impact of paper production.
- Wheat or Hemp Paper: Some companies combine wheat or hemp with post-consumer waste to create fully recyclable planner covers.
- High GSM Paper: GSM stands for grams per square meter and refers to the paper's weight. Heavier paper, like 110 GSM or 120 GSM, is often used in eco-friendly planners for durability and quality.
Choose Planners That Use Sustainable Ink
The type of ink used to print planners can also have a significant environmental impact. Many eco-conscious companies opt for water-based or plant-based inks, which are better for the environment and more easily recycled.
- Water-Based Inks: These inks contain fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and are made with simple ingredients, making them a cleaner alternative to solvent or oil-based inks.
- Soy/Vegetable Inks: Derived from organic compounds like corn oil or soybeans, soy-based ink reduces VOC emissions and is easier to recycle and break down.
- UV Inks: These inks are cured via ultraviolet light, drying almost instantly and releasing significantly fewer VOCs compared to conventional inks.
- Algae Inks: Touted as one of the most sustainable options, algae inks have a negative carbon footprint and are both renewable and biodegradable.
These inks are not only better for the environment but also maintain high-quality print results, so you don't have to sacrifice performance for sustainability.
How To Choose Your Perfect Planner
When choosing a brand new planner, first think about how you will use it. Do you need something for simple calendar tracking or detailed daily planning? This will determine if a monthly planner, weekly planner, or daily planner works best for you.
Consider if you want space for notes, goal-setting guides, habit tracking, or budgeting. Added sections like these support different planning approaches.
Your work style also matters. If you’re using your planner for work, you may want space for your task lists, extra notes, productivity pages, and appointment schedules. At the same time, creatives may prefer more blank pages for brainstorming. While minimalists may just want a simple bullet journal.
Decide if you prefer a digital planner or physical planners. Both have their benefits. A digital version provides flexibility and easy syncing and is the ultimate zero-waste choice, while paper is tangible and focused.
Here are some examples of different planners and how they fit different organizational needs:
- Basic Planners: Minimalist planners for those who appreciate simplicity and just need to organize their thoughts.
- Blank Planners: Blank, undated planners are ideal for those who want complete flexibility and creativity in their planning, such as artists or freelancers.
- Work Planners: Best for professionals who need to track important tasks, follow-ups, and plans, like managers or owners of small businesses.
- Bullet Journals: Suitable for minimalists who prefer simplicity and customization in their planning process. Bullet journals are great if you like making a daily habit tracker or space for writing down your daily intentions or weekly reflections.
- Personal Planners: Great for individuals who want to separate their personal life from work, such as parents or those with busy social lives.
- Financial Planners: For those focused on budgeting and financial tracking, like entrepreneurs or individuals with strong financial goals.
Size: Consider the size and weight of the planner, especially if you plan to carry it with you regularly. Sizes can range from pocket to binder-sized, with the thickness varying based on the type of planner.
Binding: Decide on your preferred type of binding, whether it's spiral, disc, hardbound, or stitchbound, as well as the cover type, which can be sturdy or flexible.
Extras: Look for additional features that may be important to you, such as pockets, lists of holidays, moon phases, stickers, or note sections.
Consider Opting For A Reusable Planner
Instead of tossing your old planner from year to year, consider opting for a reusable planner, which is as close as you can get to a zero-waste option. They reduce waste, conserve resources, provide versatility, encourage mindful consumption, and save money in the long term.
- Reduces Waste: Reusable planners minimize the waste generated from planners that are discarded every year. Instead of throwing away your planner, you can simply buy refillable paper.
- Saves Resources: Manufacturing traditional planners consumes paper, water, and transportation resources.
- Lower Carbon Footprint: The production and transportation of traditional planners contribute to carbon emissions. Using a planner for multiple years reduces the demand for new products and, consequently, the emissions associated with their lifecycle.
- Encourages Mindful Consumption: Investing in a reusable planner can foster a more mindful approach to consumption, focusing on long-term use and sustainability rather than disposability.
- Cost-Effective: Although the initial cost might be higher, a reusable planner can be more economical over time as you won’t need to purchase a new one every year.
- Versatile: Many reusable planners are designed to be customizable, allowing you to adapt them to your changing needs without the need for a completely new product.
The JSTORY Medium Weekly Planner is a straightforward, no-fuss, undated planner that lets you jump in at any time of the year. It's designed to help you plan out 54 weeks with horizontal weekly spreads, giving you a full week's view on each page. This makes it super handy for keeping track of appointments, events, and whatever else you've got going on. It's got a good size that works whether you're using it for work, school, or just everyday life. We especially appreciated that this planner lies completely flat when open, so we could easily use the entire space of each page with minimal ink smudging.
Here's What You Need To Know:
- 54 weeks of planning: You get a whole page for each week, which is great for seeing everything at a glance.
- Recycled Paper and Soy Ink: It's made with recycled paper and printed with plant-based inks, so it's a thumbs-up for the environment.
- Size and Make: The dimensions are 150 x 210 mm, and it's made in Korea. It's a good size that's not too big or too small.
- Color Options: You can get it in black or kraft color.
If you're a fan of bullet journaling, the Dingbats Notebooks are always a popular choice. Dingbats' Notebooks are specially designed for bullet journaling with numbered pages, an index, keys, bookmarks, and a back pocket for loose notes.
We love that the dots are spaced in a way that makes it easy to write and draw straight lines, but they are also faint enough to be unobtrusive. A big plus is a pen-friendly paper that resists bleeding and ghosting, so you can use your favorite pens without having to worry about the ink transferring.
Dingbats Notebooks use FSC-certified paper, ensuring that the paper production process adheres to rigorous environmental standards. Their covers are made with vegan leather, offering a cruelty-free alternative that doesn't compromise on quality or style.
Here's What You Need To Know:
- Sustainable from cover to cover: Made with FSC-certified paper, vegan leather covers, and acid-free paper for longevity.
- Fountain pen-friendly: Avoids bleeding and ghosting, includes features for organization like page numbers and bookmarks.
- Micro-perforated pages: Allows for easy sharing and archiving of notes.
- Eco-conscious: Dingbats donates 2% of its revenues to WWF-UK
In today's fast-paced world, staying organized is critical to effectively managing all of the responsibilities of both your personal and family life. The Blue Lake ECOLIFE Eco-Friendly Planner Kit is the ultimate solution to keep every area of your life in harmony.
With its comprehensive organizational features thoughtfully designed from recycled and repurposed materials, this planner kit allows you to easily keep track of your family, personal, and work activities.
Here’s What You Need To Know:
- Stylish and professional design - looks great and is functional
- Made entirely from recycled materials - planner, pouches, accessories are eco-friendly
- Comprehensive tools for organization - monthly spreads, weekly spreads, goal setting, habit tracker, project planner
- Includes supplementary accessories - blank notebook, sticker sheets, bookmarks, pencil pouches
The Scribble & Dot Budget Planner is designed to help you set and achieve your financial goals with confidence.
The planner begins with a section for for lining out all of your financial and savings objectives and comes with various trackers and planning pages to keep you on track toward your goals. It's a financial strategist in a planner!
Scribble & Dot have thoughtfully included a suite of features to cover every aspect of financial planning:
- Yearly Financial Goals
- Savings Goals
- Financial Planning
- Year at a Glance
- Annual Savings Tracker
- Debt Tracker
- Bill Tracker
- Annual Budget Overview
- Monthly Budget & Planning
- Monthly Overview
- Christmas and Birthdays Spending Review
- Subscription and Insurance Tracker
- Dotted pages for calculations
- Budget Stickers for visual organization
Here’s What You Need to Know:
- An exemplary eco-conscious planner that combines functionality, style, personalization, and professionalism for financial organization
- Durable premium paper and elegant signature-designed covers
- Reinforced rear pocket, dual page markers, thick elastic band, pen holder, dotted pages
- Robust hardcover and lay-flat binding for durability and easy writing
- Eco-friendly with vegan PU leather cover and 140gsm ivory paper
- The A5+ Medium size is portable and spacious for financial planning needs
The Levenger Circa smartPlanner is the ultimate customizable and eco-friendly planner designed to help you organize your life. Made by Levenger, a company known for its high-quality and sustainable products, the Circa smartPlanner features a stylish and durable cover that can be used year after year.
Inside, the planner contains a flexible ring binding system that allows you to fully customize the layout with various refill pages to suit your changing needs. Whether you want to plan out your weeks, track goals, journal, or keep important records all in one place, the Circa smartPlanner makes it easy.
Its thoughtful design includes productivity tools to keep you focused, along with space for gratitude, inspiration, and creativity. By allowing you to replace only the pages you need each year, the Circa smartPlanner reduces waste compared to traditional disposable planners.
Here's What You Need To Know:
- Comprehensive weekly and monthly calendar spreads to plan and track appointments/deadlines
- To-do checklists to prioritize tasks
- Keep & Share notes pages to record thoughts and ideas
- Gratitude pages to reflect daily on what you're thankful for
- Inspirational quotes for motivation
- Highly customizable - add/remove pages and choose from various refills
The Green Dreamer planner is our top choice for eco-conscious minimalists who value simplicity, functionality, and durability. This sustainable planner impressed us from the start with its eco-friendly design. It's constructed using 60# PCW recycled paper, soy-based inks, and recyclable kraft paper covers.
For added durability, you can add a 100% recycled cotton book cloth cover to provide a layer of protection without compromising its green credentials.
One standout feature is the undated format, which reduces waste since you can choose when to start using this planner. The minimalist aesthetics provide a clutter-free space to focus on what matters to you most.
Despite the simplicity, the planner doesn't skimp on key fundamentals. It includes weekly and monthly views for planning, habit trackers, gratitude journaling, and bullet journal pages.
Here's What You Need To Know:
- Eco-friendly design using beautiful paper, soy-based ink, recyclable kraft covers
- Optional 100% recycled cotton book cloth covers add durability
- Undated format reduces waste by allowing flexibility in start dates
- Partners with organizations and donates profits to environmental causes
- Minimalist aesthetics with a clean, clutter-free layout and ample white space
- Functional for planning yet simple enough to avoid overcomplication
- Weekly, monthly, habit tracker, gratitude, and bullet journal pages
- High-quality, durable materials built to last as a daily companion
Karst Weekly Planners are designed specifically for busy professionals who need a planner that can help them stay organized and on top of their to-do lists.
We love the easy-to-use layout so you can see exactly what you have coming up for the week, and the organizational features like a weekly overview page where you can see all of your appointments, meetings, and tasks at a glance. This planner also has daily note pages with enough room to write down more detailed information about each task or notes from client phone calls, such as due dates, priorities, and notes.
This planner also comes with a variety of templates and tools, like a project planning template, a goal-setting worksheet, and a habit tracker.
Here's What You Need To Know:
- Uses tree-free stone paper that is waterproof and durable
- Smooth writing experience enabled by unique stone paper
- Waterproof design withstands spills for busy professionals
- B Corp Certified, meeting high standards for social/environmental performance
- Partners with One Tree Planted for reforestation efforts
- Maintains 100% carbon-neutral status
This blog post was all about how to choose the best eco-friendly planner for 2024.
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Choosing an eco-friendly planner is an impactful way to reduce waste and align your organization habits with your sustainable values. In this post, we explored the key features that make a planner truly eco-friendly, from recycled paper to responsible production practices. - Look for planners with recycled paper, sustainable ink, ethical manufacturing, and natural cover materials
- Look for certifications like FSC and Green Seal to validate the sustainability claims
- Reusable planners reduce waste by eliminating the need for a new planner each year
- There are eco-friendly options whether you want simplicity, creativity, detailed planning, or financial organization
We also included our top picks for eco-conscious planners tailored to individual planning needs.
- 1) BEST BLANK PLANNER FOR FLEXIBILITY AND CREATIVITY: JSTORY MEDIUM WEEKLY PLANNER
- 2) BEST ECO-FRIENDLY BULLET JOURNAL: DINGBATS NOTEBOOKS
- 3) BEST PLANNER FOR ORGANIZING PERSONAL AND FAMILY LIFE: BLUE LAKE ECOLIFE ECO-FRIENDLY MONTHLY & WEEKLY LIFE PLANNER KIT
- 4) BEST PLANNER FOR ORGANIZING FINANCES: SCRIBBLE & DOT BUDGET PLANNER
- 5) BEST REUSABLE PLANNER: LEVENGER 2024 CIRCA SMARTPLANNER WEEKLY AGENDA NOTEBOOK
- 6) BEST BASIC PLANNER FOR MINIMALISTS: GREEN DREAMER
- 7) BEST ECO-FRIENDLY PLANNER FOR PROFESSIONALS: THE KARST WEEKLY PLANNER
As you make your planner purchase for 2024, consider going green! What eco-friendly planner will you choose to reduce waste and align your 2024 planning with sustainability?
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