Mr. Ellie Pooh

Artisan Organization: Mr. Ellie Pooh

Country: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is home to about a tenth of Asia’s dwindling wild elephant population. But because their grazing interferes with agriculture, the animals are being rapidly killed off. Conservationists urge that if they are to co-exist with humans, elephants must become a sustainable economic resource.

The solution: elephant poo. Since an elephant’s diet is purely vegetarian, its waste is basically raw cellulose, able to be cleaned and processed into a fine, acid-free paper. Mr. Ellie Pooh uses the money made through the sale of their paper products to compensate farmers for crop damage, thus raising the farmers’ tolerance of their tusked cohabitants.

Mr. Ellie Pooh’s papers are (obviously) organic and handmade with 100% recycled “content.” Compared to conventional paper, recycled paper production conserves energy and emits fewer greenhouse gases while preventing forest destruction.