Panda poop perfect for paper
Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern
China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda
excrement into high quality paper.
Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper.
Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, said the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung. They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said.
“We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste,” said Liao. “It’s environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves, and also we can sell whatever is left over.”
The center’s 40 bamboo-fed pandas produce about 2 tons of droppings a day, but Liao said he was not sure yet how much paper would result.
I wonder if this would work with ruminants as well as it obviously does with other herbivores? Maybe we could save a few trees? Pollute a few less rivers?
Posted: Mon - March 26, 2007 at 09:35 AM