Eco-friendly paper made of jumbo dung used at TEDx

COIMBATORE: Ever heard of papers made of elephant dung infused with flower seeds? Interestingly, the name tags and handouts carrying speaker profiles at the TEDx Coimbatore on Saturday were made of jumbo’s excreta, with the idea of making them reusable.

“These papers if sown and watered will grow,” said Uma Maheswaran VK, manager (communications) of Park Group of Institutions. He said they were introduced with focus on eco-friendly products. “Most often, handouts at fairs and name tags are disposed of. We wanted to show that they can be put to better use,” he said.

The paper is made from elephant dung which is treated and bleached. The tags made of reusable material can also be used as a measurement tape. The papers were sourced from a firm which makes eco-friendly products in the city.

Greens were concerned about the exploitation of trees to make paper. “This shows that we can make paper without cutting down trees,” points out Anusha R, the CEO of the group.

S Saravanakumar, managing director of Geeco, which manufactures eco-friendly goods, said they had come upon this idea a few years ago. “Elephants and some animals spread the seeds through their excreta. We were already making paper and other products using banana fibre and other natural inputs. We tried this successfully,” he said. He said the seeds were sourced from one of his clients abroad. These seeds are added to the paper which can be sown in water and grown.