Sheep Poo Paper™ - consciously upsetting convention

I've recently learned of a company in Snowdonia (Creative Paper Wales) who make paper from sheep poo!  Sounds horrible I know, but I'm assured it smells fine.

The raw ingredient (the ewe doo doo) is collected by hand, fresh from the mountainside around their mill - a previously dis-used building left behind after the local slate quarry shut down. Back inside, the undigested fibre is separated from the other waste material by boiling and washing. This process produces the fibre which goes on to become paper and, "as a by-product it also produces a clean, sterile, rich, liquid fertilizer which we store in a tank at the mill and pass on to local growers."

So not only are they taking a waste product and creating 2 useful products from it (which is fantastic enough), but they've also revitalised a 'dead' building and are contributing to the local economy. I've been reading through their website and am excited by their ever-so-slightly provocative 'environmental' statement about why they are making sheep poo paper. Here is an abridged version:

"We have sited the paper mill in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the southern reaches of Snowdonia National Park, only 3 miles north from the world famous Centre for Alternative Technology. We want it to stay that beautiful for many more generations to come, so we are committed to constantly pursue only the most environmentally friendly options and to work as part of a sustainable community.

The non-craft papermaking industry is notoriously intensive in its use of resources, destroying vast areas of forest every day and with staggering energy requirements. They also have a bad habit of using very large amounts of chemicals and other environmentally contaminating nasties in their processing.

Creative Paper Wales (and Sheep Poo Paper™) is all about rejecting established thinking about what is possible or sensible and then transforming that impulse into action and actually doing something differently. We are setting out to upset conventions and trying to see the world and its possibilities in a new and more sustainable way."

Now that's what I call a conscious business. Show your support; visit their international Online Shop where you can buy cards, bookmarks, envelopes, wedding invitations! etc. - oh and you'll find a link to their Reindeer Poo Paper™ site too.