Paper company starts production of ‘luxury’ tissues made from panda poop

Save some trees, wipe your butt with panda poo

It turns out that pandas are actually useful for something after all — their poo can be turned into paper!

The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has entered into an interesting arrangement with the Fengsheng Paper Group in which the center has agreed to provide the company with large quantities of panda manure from three of its bases in Chengdu.

Each day, an adult giant panda consumes between 12 to 15 kilograms of bamboo, which turns into around 10 kilograms of excrement, according to CGTN. In the past, this excrement would have been simply thrown away, along with the panda’s daily leftovers. However, now it will be put to good use.

Since a panda’s diet consists mainly of bamboo, its feces are high in fiber. This high fiber content is perfect for paper production, giving the paper a nice texture and color, as well as a scent that is similar to bamboo (rather than, say, shit).

Fengsheng chairman Yang Chaolin explained that typically his company would have to extract the bamboo fibers from the stalks themselves, but now the pandas’ digestive tracts do it all for them in what he calls a “win-win situation.” The panda poo will be used to create tissues, which you can then use to wipe your own butt or face.

The only real complication is the cost. A box of these “luxury” tissues will cost you 43 yuan, considerably more than a regular box of tissues in China, which also have the added bonus of not being made from crap.

Last year, a retired school teacher in Shaanxi made headlines for pioneering this unusual method paper production. Making writing paper in his spare time from panda dung, mulberry tree bark, and kiwifruit tree vines.