Elephant Paper

Maximus-Sri Lanka is a company producing paper products from an unusual variety of waste – elephant dung! The company is nestled in an area infamous for its’ long and bloody conflict between man and mammal – in this case the Sri Lankan elephant.

The human-elephant conflict is often considered as the most critical wildlife conservation challenge facing Sri Lanka – home to about a tenth of the global Asian elephant population. According to some estimates an average of 150 elephants die annually at the hands of terrified and angry villagers; while the casualties on the human side includes damage to property and agricultural land with an average of about 40 human lives lost annually. At the root of this conundrum lies its’ main cause – habitat encroachment by humans. This is largely a result of the increasing demand for land, deforestation and accelerated irrigation development projects. Many efforts are being made at both the state and non-state levels to fence the possible extinction of the elephant.

It is in this context that Maximus-Sri Lanka (derived from the zoological name for the Sri Lankan Elephant – Elephus Maximus Maximus) was established in 1997. The company is currently producing elephant dung paper for the local and international markets. A proportion of the sales are donated to the elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Elephants however are not the only beneficiaries of this project. Maximus also sources the income for its’ staff many of whom are from the surrounding area, and its recently established 'Peace Paper' scheme helps rural people make a living by collecting dung from wild elephants.

All these factors provide many humans in the area with adequate motivation to refrain from pulling that trigger or setting that trap to end the lives of elephants threatening their lives and livelihoods.

It is for this reason – that of not forcing but motivating humans to conserve a potentially dangerous animal – that Maximus-Sri Lanka was judged the winner of World Challenge 2006. A collaborative effort between BBC World and Newsweek in association with Shell, World Challenge aims to find projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grassroots level without costing the earth.

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