Many things are recycled in America. But have you ever heard of paper made from elephants' pooh? A friend of mine, who is big on recycling and very environment-conscious, told me one day about this elephant pooh paper when she took me to a "Fair Trade" store. When I saw the products made out of elephants' droppings, I was amazed by how beautifully and uniquely these works of art were made. The quality of the paper was exceptional, and reminded me of traditional Japanese paper called Washi.

This elephants' pooh paper is made in Sri Lanka, the home to about a tenth of the estimated global total of 40,000 Asian elephants in the wild. In Sri Lanka, elephants are being killed -- not for commercial purposes, but because these animals interfere with agriculture. The animals' size and appetite makes it hard for farmers to live in harmony with the elephants. Changing the perception of the farmers is one solution to this problem. Taking advantage of the elephants' natural behavior and turning it into something useful can really help farmers financially. Thus, paper made from elephants' dung. An adult elephant eliminates about 500lb waste per day, and nothing was done about it in the past. Now the people of Sri Lanka have found a way to turn it into paper. Elephants are vegetarians, and their waste contains lots of fiber, which creates pulp for making paper with a beautiful and unique texture.

For more information, please visit this website.

Many Fair Trade stores carry recycled products from all over the world. If you are curious about Fair Trade, the following websites are informative:

Ten Thousand Villages
A Greater Gift
Equal Exchange
Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN)
Fair Trade Federation (FTF)
Transfair USA
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO)
International Fair Trade Association (IFAT)