Elephant dung paper

Elephant dung paper. Yes, you did read that right!

The man behind the paper is Mr. Wanchai. On his way home from work he used to pass a natural paper factory and was impressed at the simplicity of the process that used natural tree fibers to make high quality hand made paper. He then took a trip to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang Northern Thailand and saw piles and piles of dung. He looked at the dung and noticed that the dung was very fibrous. This was the birth of the idea.

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The next step was to take home a carload of dung to his house. His wife was amused and at this stage very patient. Try as he could he could not get the paper just right. He used the family food processor to cut the long fibers to a shorter length - his wife finally lost her patience. Not only was he bringing home dung but using the food processor was one step too far. She gave him the ultimatum. She gave him two choices. The first was to stop bringing home dung and concentrate on his job. The second was to make the dung paper full time. (Oh, and she wanted a new food processor!)

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Mr W did succeed and now his factory makes beautiful paper from elephant dung. It works this way. On average an elephant will eat 200-250kg of food a day.. from that the manufacturers of the paper get 50kg of dung.

One elephant provides them enough dung to make 115 sheets of paper. Elephant dung does not smell that bad the makers assure us, so of course Elephant Dung Paper does not smell at all either and is 100 percent bacteria free.

As dung is a waste product if it is not used to make paper there would be more pollution.

The elephants of Thailand are in distress. Now they are no longer neededas workers, there has ceased to be an economic place for the thousands of elephants in the country.

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Sales of this paper contribute to securing the future of Thai elephants. It is based at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang in the north of the country, providing another necessary income generator that helps to feed and care for these majestic creatures.

The simplicity of the idea is remarkable. Workers collect the dung of elephants, turn it into paper and then products. It is then sold and the profits go towards feeding and caring for the elephants.

They call it 'The circle of conservation'.

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