I have been writing blogs on toilets and often getting appreciations from the indulgent FB friends. Today I propose to talk about elephant poo. In Chiangmai, a famous tourist destination sea beach of Thailand, having a number of elephants, was having an agonising scene with huge droppings of this biggest animal. As a wayout, since 2003, the Thais there have started training the elephants to use toilets to keep the roads and vicinity clean.
We know that animal dropping is an organic material which is inflammable. In India since time immemorial, cow-dung cakes have been used as cooking fuel. Similarly, the elephant poo too is used. It is well known that animal waste is a good organic manure. But today, Nepal has taken a lead in showing the world that elephantine waste is having potentials for a still better use.
The Chitwan National Park of Nepal is fortunate to have a very good population of elaphants. The locals have researched and found that it is an excellent raw material for handcrafted paper and cardboards. This material is better than the traditional tree bark pulps. Their research has revealed that an adult elephant eats nearly 250 kg of food daily. The animal digests half of that and the remaining half with adequate fibre coming out is an ideal pulp material. The research adds that out of every 10 kg of elephant dropping, one can make 8 kg of paper.
The recycling of this jumbo poo has several other benefits. First, more we use this type of paper, more we conserve forest property. If tree felling is restrained, it will lessen global warming and bring more rains. In addition to that, this massive unattended animal waste has been creating dirty atmosphere. When it is used for other creative purposes, our ecology will remain undisturbed. All the concerned sanitarians should take notice of this healthy experiment and encourage the society as well as the forestry authorities to further expand this mission.
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