Pineapple paper becomes big business

[Sawatdee]

Pineapple paper becomes big business for a Thai beach town
Wednesday April 28, 7:47 AM - Kyodo

When Siriwan Phopipat quit her job at a local hotel in 2001 to go into the handmade paper business, she never imagined that three years later 30,000 people would be coming to her small town to see her products.
In an interview with Kyodo News, Siriwan said she started her business mainly because she was interested in doing something to recycle the tons of waste pineapple leaves that were polluting the air in Pranburi not far from the popular southern Thailand beach resort Hua Hin.

Until Siriwan created Pranburi's Pineapple Paper 2001 factory, the leaves were mostly burned, filling the air with acrid smoke and damaging the environment.

Now, in an enterprise that has expanded from Siriwan, a few friends and 15 unemployed housewives into one of the biggest businesses in Pranburi, those leaves are being recycled into handmade, 100% pineapple, paper.

"I think our district grows the most pineapples in the world," said Siriwan, the first producer making 100% pineapple paper in Thailand.

"We wanted to make use of these wasted pineapple leaves. In the past, we burned them and it really created pollution in our neighborhood," Siriwan said.

The community paper business now is a highlight of a Thai government campaign to promote local industry and reduce poverty by encouraging local people to develop products based on their culture, traditions and natural environment.

The process of turning the prickly leaves of pineapples into paper takes 24 hours, starting from washing the fresh leaves, boiling them in sodium hydroxide for a few hours to extract the fibers and then washing them again and grinding them up.

The resulting slurry is put into paper frames and then set out to dry, first in Pranburi's abundant sunshine, then in the shade.

"It's really easy. Everyone can make it. The difficult part is how to sell the paper. Now, it depends on product designs, new ideas and marketing strategies," Siriwan said.

About 80% of her paper, used for making shoeboxes, packaging materials, menu covers and cards, is exported to the United States, Europe and Japan. Local customers are mostly hotels and government agencies.

"People are becoming more aware of environmental issues these days and this paper serves the trend of using natural and recycled products," she said.

The pineapple paper has drawn lots of attention, largely from those interested in making similar businesses, and nearly 30,000 people visited the factory last year, boosting tourism in the community, creating jobs and improving the livelihood of local pineapple farmers as well.

"Pineapple paper has become the symbol of the province and people in the community feel it is also their asset, not just mine. Our unknown district has turned into tourist attraction. It is the reputation we gave now gained that is invaluable," Siriwan said.

"In this modern era full of mass products and technologies, people tend to go back to natural materials. They prefer natural products as they want to feel close to the nature," Siriwan added as she predicted an even brighter future for her pineapple paper.

[dany]

i'm danielle gayares, a resident of the philippines and i was interested with this thing about paper making out of pineapple leaves.it was said earlier that it is really easy and anyone could do it and that statement pushed me to do this. i just want to ask what the exact procedure is.if you are intrigued of what my reason could be, one of my subjects in school is research and i want to produce a different product: something catchy and new. i am badly hoping for a response. really. please inform me as early as possible. my e-mail add is blacksapphire11@yahoo.com. i would really really be grateful if you could grant this little request. thank you in advance. peaceout!

[rcalaimo]

What a good idea.

[swaley]

Hi
I am from Mauritius and I am a pineapple grower.
I have known about the hand made pineapple paper in Thailand
I wish to get a contact address for Ms Sirivan Phopipat
Can someone help me please?
I will be very grateful

Thanks in advance

regs

Swaley Gokhool

[Khun Don]

Hi
I am from Mauritius and I am a pineapple grower.
I have known about the hand made pineapple paper in Thailand
I wish to get a contact address for Ms Sirivan Phopipat
Can someone help me please?
I will be very grateful

Thanks in advance

regs

Swaley Gokhool

http://www.thaitambon.com/tambon/tes...E=041216181750