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Haathi Chaap

Don't pooh-pooh this concept! Paper from poop? And that too elephant poop? Well, yes, our pachyderm friends are now doing their bit to save the environment thanks to the efforts of Mahima Mehra. On one of her trips to JaipurÕs Amber Fort, she and Vijayendra Shekhawat, a paper producer, stumbled on elephant poop and she says it was a eureka moment for both of them.

That was the beginning of Haathi Chaap, the brand under which Mahima today markets her products. It took a few months and quite a bit of experimentation to come up with the right consistency and the right product. Mahima recalls, I was born and brought up in Jaipur, so trips to the Amber Fort were frequent enough. And I had the good fortune of working with a paper producer who didn't mind doing something different.

It took a while for the project to get off the ground - converting the poop to paper was the challenge. Nevertheless, the determined lady persisted and soon her dreams of elephant poop paper came true. Today, her brand name, Haathi Chaap has caught on. The products made from elephant poop are charming. Notebooks, bookmarks, stationery, photo frames, gift bags, coasters-now that's a range of interesting and aesthetically appealing products! Possibly the cutest are the prints (can we say chaaps?) of a well-rounded elephant butt on many of the items! Mahima and Shekhawat collaborate with nomadic tribes in Rajasthan to make the Haathi Chaap products.

EVERYONE LOVES THE POOP PRODUCTS

So did she face any challenges or resistance initially? "Resistance...I don't think we faced any as such-the idea was fascinating to most people," she says. "The response has been great. The market today has expanded and we have people from all walks of life wanting to know more about the paper." Initially she was exporting the products but now it is available in India and people love the elephant poop products. And for those who seek eco-friendly products, Haathi Chaap products fit the bill. Today the elephant dung is not just being used for paper but even for fertilizer - a double bonanza. Says Mahima, "The idea was Waste Not. So we do try and use as much waste as possibleÉin this case even the waste of the waste. Also there are significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, released from mounds of dung. We haven't quite assessed how much from the dung we're using, but when you use the dung in an alternative way, you're making sure that much methane is not being released into the environment." Her eureka moment has taken her a long way!

READILY AVAILABLE COMMODITY

With elephant dung being a commodity that is available abundantly in our country, can this initiative be expanded and taken to a larger platform? She replies, "That's really what we'd like to do...more transfer of technology-more projects especially in the southern and eastern parts of India, where elephants rescue centers could use this technology to generate funds." She adds, "We're trying to work with NGOs which run rescue/rehabilitation centres, helping them first make products out of dung and then helping to set up their own paper or product making enterprises." Well, if that pans out, the poop paper revolution will begin in India - eco-friendly, handmade and aesthetically engaging.

For more details, log onto:www.elephantpoopaper.com www.haathchaap.com