I'm not exactly environmentally concerned, but I do recommend a Metal Drafting Pencil for all pencillng needs. I have an Italian Dietzgen I just love, it holds super thick leads and smaller diameter leads as well.

Other than that my favorite is a German Staedtler drafting pencils for holding normal size leads that are either hard or soft. I'm a soft-type user myself, I need the shading and smudgy goodness of soft leads.

The good thing about these pencils is that you keep the pencil itself until it breaks. As for the two I mentioned they most likely will not break during my lifetime. Oh, and as a note, I stress that if you get a Staedtler lead holder/ drafting pencil, try to get it from GERMANY. These days you might see Staedtler on the package, but the product might be from China. These things make sick [I'm going to break soon] crack/click sounds when I push the button to advance the lead. It does the job, but....enh.

The only trade-off I can see with the Chinese make is the price [if you're not so serious about it.] and the lead. It also comes with a sharpener other than the pencil's own built-in one. There's something about leads I've purchased from China that make extremely black marks on paper that smudge quite nicely. The staedtler lead is great, too, of course.

It's a pencil you won't be throwing away. As a lead holder, you just keep refilling it. It's not disposable plastic, it's NOT WOOD, and you'll most likely be able to use your leads to the VERY END. With plastic or wood pencils you don't get too. In fact it really does seem as if mechanical pencils of today are actually made to leave more and more wasted lead at the end. My Mom has an older mechanical pencil that has waste of about two centimeters of lead. Mechanical pencils I've purchased today have left almost an INCH of waste if not more! Thats almost 1/4 of most refill leads. You can use a pencil extender with normal pencils to get more out of them, but they don't always give you a good grip feel. You might try one. I suggest Koh-i-noor brand. Less waste is always better.

To sum up; I have the Dietzgen and the Staeatdtler, and a Chinese Staedtler, and with these you can get a BIG package of leads. I've had these pencils for -years- and have yet to finish my third piece of lead. You get more than ten with a package, too. Oh my. *o*

So, Drafting Pencils get my thumbs-up. I still use the normal pencils I bought before, but only for low-importance stuff.

Ehm, Erasers are a whole different world. I'll only say that I like staedtler white polymer erasers. *_* heh I use two, one as it is out of the package, and for the second I make some cuts into the surface with an x-acto knife to give it a bit more grab with thick layers of lead.

Of course, no matter what you use to draw with, put your effort into it so you won't regret it.

Best.