A-Z of Shopping Fair Trade - 'P' is for Poo

Elephant Poo Poo stationary/cards are some of our favorite gift items. I think they may actually rival coal for that 'naughty' little joke Holiday gift. Yet they do have a serious side. These are Products With a Purpose. The purpose is to successfully sell these goods in order to complete a truly creative sustainable cycle: where raw materials with little other use are utilized to make a useful and functional product all the while providing jobs and opportunity along the way and ultimately selling these goods at a profit from which a portion is directed to a worthwhile cause: elephant welfare and conservation.

Basically, the sustainable cycle works like this: as with all creatures on our planet, elephants need a clean environment and a good diet. With these needs met, an elephant produces a lot of dung, which is collected and used to make these products. Producers work with various conservation parks (and mahouts) to gather the dung (which is full of fibrous material and makes great paper). They then process the dung into paper sheets from which the products are made. The more they sell to customers like you and to Fair Trade stores across the country and around the world ...the more they can contribute as a portion of the profits from each item you buy is contributed to elephant welfare and conservation programs!