Friday, March 23, 2007

Truly recycled paper

If you've been here before, you know how I love my pens and paper. I am obsessed with pens and paper brings me joy. A blank page is full of possibility (sometimes too much possibility and can be overwhelming). But I am not sure how I feel about Elephant Poo Poo Paper. No, this is not some clever name, this is a literal title because the paper is made of actual elephant poo. Rather, I should say, the paper is made of stuff they take out of elephant poo.

The makers of Elephant Poo Poo Paper gather up dried elephant dung from elephant conservation parks then bring it back to a factory where they rinse the poo off and keep the fibrous materials from the grasses, bamboo & fruits the elephants eat. The next step (and, in my opinion, the most important) is putting it in what they call "a giant pot of boiling water to ensure the fibers are super clean". If you're interested in the rest of the process you can find it in the section of their website called "Turning Poo Poo Into Paper". For me, the only relevant parts of the process are how they clean it up so I would want to touch it.

I don't know if I would want to touch. I'm sure it must be clean and I'm not saying that I won't perhaps purchase this sometime as a novelty item (my nephew would love it if I gave him paper made from elephant poo), but I don't know if I could ever write on it without thinking that it had been through the digestive system of an elephant. It is a true form of recycling and the makers tell us that a portion of their profits go to "meaningful elephant welfare and conservation efforts to assist the Asian elephant" so it seems to be a positive thing.

If you can get past the poo.

If you would like to purchase some of the products you can visit their Poo-tique On-Line Shop.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home