Thailand: Making paper with elephant dung to protect the environment

Many people consider elephant dung as waste. Wanchai Asawawibulkij saw it as… paper, and a way to preserve elephants in his native Thailand.

Although Thailand is the national symbol of animals, the number of elephants in this country is declining. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, there are about 100,000 elephants in the country at the beginning of the 20th century, but only about 4,000 are left in the new century. Of these, there are only about 1,500 forest elephants and this number is reduced from 5 to 10% annually.

Throughout Thai history, many wild elephants have been domesticated to help timber harvesters, but this has contributed to killing elephants when wild habitats are destroyed. When Thailand banned logging to protect forests since 1989, elephants were 'unemployed' and lived in poor conditions. Many elephant conservation and nurturing centers are set up to help elephants.

A local resident is helping a foreign tourist make handmade paper from elephant dung in the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Chiang Mai.Photo: TL

Thailand Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in Chiang Mai was established in 1993 to help preserve the elephant population by exploiting ecotourism. The number of elephants here is mostly the former 'loggers'.

Mr. Asawawibulkij used to act as a legal consultant in Bangkok but after a visit to the TECC he came up with the idea of ​​making handmade paper when he saw the elephant dumps scattered all over the place. Elephants mainly eat only plants, which are mostly high in fiber and do not fully digest in elephant intestines. This softly crushed fiber block is an excellent paper making material.

Asawawibulkij spent two years studying completing the process and quitting the law profession to open Elephant Dung Paper Company (EDP) in 2001 specialized in producing handmade paper from elephant dung. EDP ​​paper factory is located right in the center of TECC. According to Asawawibulkij, an elephant eats about 200kg of food a day and 50 elephants at TECC each day give him about 3 tons of 'raw material'. This 'material' is boiled for 5 hours in a large tank. The remaining fiber pile is then treated with hydrogen peroxide, an environmentally friendly detergent.

The cleaned fiber is put into the machine to the point that it is needed and then stained. After about 3 hours of beating, the fiber is compressed into round cakes. Each fiber cake will become a 55 x 75cm thick piece of paper. These fiber cakes are put in pots, mashed with water, spread on the frame to stretch fabric blinds, then bring the sun to dry into paper. This paper will be used as souvenirs such as stationery, notebooks, photo albums . sold to visitors to TECC. Tourists who like it can make their own paper this way.

Elephant manure at TECC is also a raw material to produce compost and biogas gas. Stewardship at this TECC uses biogas as a cooking fuel for yourself and for overnight camping.

Villagers are mobilized to participate in making these products and thus have a good source of income. Each year, products from elephant dung bring about $ 270,000. But the most benefit is the elephants. Asawawibulkij calls it: ' Closed conservation cycle - elephants help elephants '.