Making elephant poo into paper

Posted: July 11th, 2008 | Author: Steve | Filed under: Sustainability | Comments

I’ve heard of a lot of unusual and interesting ways to recycle waste back into usable products, but this one has to be one of the coolest and funniest.

The Great Elephant Poo Paper Company (www.poopaper.com), as its name says, is taking elephant dung and turning it into paper. How do they do this? Well, apparently elephant poo contains quite a bit of undigested plant fibers. After washing the poo patties, what remains are the plant fibers, and these are what is converted into paper products.

What’s really neat about this company is the way they close the loop: the poo is turned into paper, the paper is sold on their website and  a protion of the profits goes back into elephant welfare and conservation.

If only it were this easy with technological waste.

The most frequently asked question about poo paper: “Does the paper smell?”

Interesting elephant poo fact: “Elephants eat 300 – 600 lb (130 – 270 kg) of food per day – 60% of that food leaves the elephant’s body undigested.”

Thanks to Cool Hunting.