From Poop To Paper

Posted on Fri Jul 4 2008

By: Hilary Feldman in Daily Green Tips

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Looking for a way to cut down on your paper consumption? Even with e-mail and other electronic information systems, there’s often something that needs to be printed onto paper. Not to mention sending cards on special occasions (not everyone’s granny can receive e-cards), notebooks, and other stationery. There are several alternatives to standard wood cellulose paper, including a variety of different plant fibres, but several companies are offering to turn waste into paper.

The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company Limited uses a novel source for its products. Yes, you guessed it - elephant dung. But don’t be alarmed, as the process delivers an odourless product.

Elephants living in conservation parks are the dung deliverers. They feed on a variety of vegetation - grasses, leaves, twigs, and fruit. However, only about half the plant material is fully digested, and the resulting droppings are very fibrous. The elephant's feeding strategy relies on eating large quantities of low-quality forage, leading inevitably to waste products that emerge rapidly and in copious amounts.

For paper-making, these droppings are left to dry naturally before being transported to the paper factory. Thorough rinsing ensures that only undigested plant fibres - cellulose - remain, and these are then boiled for hours. This results in clean fibres. Additional plant fibres are added, using banana and pineapple plants, to give a more durable paper. Colours can be added as well.

The moist fibres are collected into 300-400 gram ‘cakes’, which are spread into thin sheets and left to dry on racks in the sun. The paper goes into various products. A single elephant dropping can yield 25 large sheets of paper - which then make 10 standard journals!

Using traditional techniques, the company offers a wide range of items from notebooks and bookmarks to storage boxes, picture frames, and gift bags. In North America, there are two distribution centres - in Toronto, Ontario, and Fort Worth, Texas. The company also operates internationally. Their mandate is a sustainable and environmentally responsible product, and some of the profits fund elephant conservation and welfare projects.

In fact, elephant dung otherwise goes to waste - not to forget the many happy dung beetles, termites, and other ecosystem members that benefit from nutrient recycling. In addition, local jobs are created through the collection and processing of dung.

What may be more surprising is that this is not the only company that sell dung paper products. The Thai Elephant Conservation Center also produces products, sold in North America, as well as Japan and parts of Europe. They use 100% dung in their paper. Mr. Ellie Pooh offers a wide range of paper items. This enterprise, through Eco Maximus, is based in Sri Lanka and seeks to find an economic reason to garner support for elephant conservation. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan elephant population comes into conflict with agricultural needs, resulting in elephant mortality.

Given the high rate of global paper consumption, and the detrimental effects on trees and boreal forests (and carbin sequestration), dung paper stops sounding so outlandish. The added benefits of elephant conservation, stimulation of local economies, and waste reduction make it even more appealing.