The Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse is made of 20 percent recycled ocean plastic, and it comes in a 100 percent recycled box. Microsoft calls it “a breakthrough in materials technology,” but I think it’s fairer to simply describe it as a baby step towards its sustainability promises for the future.
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And that’s fine: you have to start somewhere. And the $25 Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse—$22.50 for eligible students, parents, teachers, and military—isn’t such a bad place to start. It’s a cute little ambidextrous mouse that will be equally non-ergonomic for righties and lefties, and it can allegedly last up to 12 months using just a single AA battery (which is included).
Connectivity couldn’t be easier: thanks to its use of Bluetooth-based Swift Pair technology, you can simply press and hold on the Power/Pair button on its bottom for three seconds, and Windows 10 or 11 will immediately ask to pair, and there are no driver installs required. Well, unless you want to configure its three buttons—left, center (wheel), and right—to work differently than the default. In that case, you’ll need to find and install Microsoft’s Mouse and Keyboard Center software.
In use, the Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse feels every bit as cheap as its asking price, but that’s fine: the mouse is actually kind of adorable in a bar of soap way, and it should be quite portable. It’s a bit small for my large hands, but it would do well in a pinch.
Of course, the big deal here is the sustainability angle, which isn’t as great as it could be, frankly. That 20 percent bit refers only to the shell of the mouse, and not to the entire device. And other hardware makers are much further along in their use of ocean-bound and ocean-recovered plastics than is Microsoft. They’ll get there, I’m sure.
You can learn more about the Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse from the Microsoft website. And if you want to buy one for yourself, you can do so from the Microsoft Store.