Elephant dung is providing a surprising boost for the coffers of a number of animal parks and zoos, including the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. Why? It can be turned into paper products. An elephant will munch its way through about 250kg of food a day and what comes out at the other end is about 50kg's worth of waste - enough to make 115 sheets of A4. All very well and good but somebody has to go and pick it all up - the dung collector. Then it's taken to be washed and boiled for five hours, spun for three hours to cut the fibres up, weighed out into balls, sifted into frames and left to dry in the sun. After being sanded for a smooth surface it's a simple and sanitary process to make the notebooks, cards etc. Environmentally friendly as well as profitable, The Thai centre is rightly proud of its side-line and even insists that the dung does not smell 'that bad'. Luckily for the sales team the paper it's turned into doesn't smell at all.
