Salay Handmade Paper Puts Weeds to Good Use

Weeds are an annoyance for gardeners, but they do occasionally come in handy. The inhabitants of Mindanao in the Philippines came up with an ingenious – and beautiful – way to use the weeds that were popping up among the crafts in their fields.  They collect cogon grass and turn it into cards, albums, picture frames and other paper items.

From EcoSalon:

Before this non-governmental organization was formed, the inhabitants of Mindanao had endured dire financial difficulties throughout years of political unrest. In response to this crisis, entrepreneur Loreta Rafisura founded the People’s Economic Council, consisting of only ten supporters at the time, to provide these disadvantaged people with steady employment. After discovering the surplus of cogon grass, PEC experimented with methods to make use of this pesky weed, and the rest is history.

When you hear about things like this, it’s difficult to understand why we’re still cutting down trees just to make paper that will most likely be used once and then thrown away. It seems so incredibly wasteful.

Check out the collection of Salay handmade paper products over at fair trade retailer Ten Thousand Villages.

Link [EcoSalon] + [Ten Thousand Villages]

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