A sales assistant displays a souvenir made from recycled panda manure in the Research Centre for Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province. [Photo: sohu.com] Southwestern China's Sichuan province is home to giant pandas, and one research centre has found a way to generate revenue ¨C by selling objects made from panda dung.
The gifts including paper, puppets and brush pots, hit the shelves of Chengdu's Research Centre for Giant Panda Breeding on Thursday, the Chengdu Daily reported.
The new products were named as being the green handiwork of panda dung, which uses panda manure as its main material.
One researcher from the reserve said that the idea was inspired by a zoo in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, where they recycled manure from pandas and elephants into souvenirs, which are quite popular.
Giant pandas' excrement can be made into paper products after a recycling treatment that involves cleansing, pulping, whitening and drying. Some paper even bears the scent of fresh bamboo.
"An adult panda produces about 20 kilogrammes of dung each day, hence dozens of bamboo-fed pandas in the Chengdu reserve produce up to 200 tons of excrement each year," Huang Xiangming, a senior staff member at the reserve, was quoted as saying.
"In that past, it took the centre 5,000-8,000 yuan (661 ¨C 1,058 U.S. dollars) per month to deal with the waste. But now, it's no longer an expense but can boost our incomes."
1 2 |
About Us 
