Researchers at the Giant Panda Breeding Base in Chengdu, China are preparing to follow in the footsteps of Thailand’s Chiang Mai Zoo and turn tons of panda poop into paper. Bing Bing, Ya Guang, Qing Zi and the other thirty-seven pandas at the center produce roughly 2 tons of high-fibre bamboo poop a day! Liao Jun, a researcher at the center believes all the panda poop will be ideal for making souvenir cards, bookmarks, notebooks, even fridge magnets. A product line should be out in about a year (just in time for any Olympic visitors). If you can’t wait until then, you’ll have to travel to Thailand where visitors to the Chian Mai Zoo may purchase an assortment of panda poop paper products thanks to China’s own—Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui.
2 tons of poop divided by 37 pandas equals nearly 110 pounds of poop per panda per day according to your calculations. I’m having a hard time comprehending this copious amount and am sure there must be a typo or numerical miscommunication here. At least for the Keeper’s sake, I really hope so.
I wonder what the conversion process is like? Is this really a clean system or simply novelty?
Wow, this takes the whole trash to treasure idea to the limit! I love it. I did the math, and each panda is pooping over 50 pounds a day. That’s a lot of waste to be able to convert.
May I assume that this stuff would make safely sanitary toilet paper and womens’ “sanitary” products?
There are those among us who have resolved to buy nothing else new for the next year, at least, as part of their vow to resist consumerist culture.
Being involved in a renovation, I couldn’t quite do that, so I mounted solar panels instead. It’s an attempt at an eco-renovation, which is why I’m on this great Inhabitat site every day, but I’ll also stock up on Panda Poop tp and “sanitary products” if and when they become available.
R’n R, for one’n all—A.G.
And there is no clean coal.
Where can I buy the Panda Poop Paper?
I saw it at the Nat. Hist. Museum in Wash. DC and their on-line store is closed at the moment.
Help, I need it for my son’s teacher.