There's a new Chinese saying: When life hands you panda poop, make paper.
Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper.
Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan Province, said the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung.
PHOTO: EPA
They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said.
The base is currently in talks with several paper mills on how to turn the droppings of Jing Jing, Ke Bi, Ya Ya and dozens of other pandas at the base into reams of office paper and rolls of wrapping paper, said Liao. They hope to have a product line available by next year, he said.
"We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste," said Liao. "It's environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves and also we can sell whatever is left over.''
Liao said he was not sure how much paper could be made from the some 2 tonnes of droppings produced by the center's 40 bamboo-fed pandas every day.
What about squeamish customers who might consider the paper unsanitary? "People won't find it gross at all," Liao said. "They probably won't even be able to tell it's from panda poop."
The Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand already sells multicolored paper made from the excrement produced by its two resident pandas. The day long process involves cleaning the feces, boiling it in a soda solution, bleaching it with chlorine and drying it under the sun. (AP)
中國有句新諺語︰當人生給你貓熊糞時，就拿來造紙。
中國南部一處貓熊保育地的研究員正在洽詢紙廠，好將高纖維的貓熊糞加工為高品質的紙。
四川省成都貓熊基地的研究員廖駿表示，去年他們拜訪泰國發現了象糞造的紙，遂想出這個點子。
他說，他們認為貓熊糞可以製造出更精緻的高品質紙。
廖駿表示，成都貓熊基地目前正與幾家紙廠協商如何將基地的晶晶、柯比、亞亞與數十隻貓熊的糞便製成大量的辦公室用紙與包裝紙。他說，他們希望明年可以推出一系列產品。
「我們這樣做不是為了賺錢，而是廢物回收，」廖駿說︰「這樣很環保。我們可以自己用這些紙，也可以把多餘的出售。」
廖駿說他不確定，基地四十隻吃竹葉的貓熊每日所生產的兩噸糞便能造多少紙。
那麼，認為紙張不衛生而感到噁心的顧客呢？「民眾一點也不會感覺噁心，」廖駿說︰「他們大概分不出這是貓熊糞做的。」
泰國北部的清邁動物園已在販售當地兩隻貓熊糞便所造的五顏六色彩紙。耗時一日的過程包括清理糞便、鹼水煮沸、加氯漂白與日光乾燥。 （美聯社／翻譯：賴美君）
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