The market in China for chopsticks must be huge. Students from Quincy, California think so. In fact the Chinese reportedly go through more than 200 billion pairs of chopsticks a year – and according to the students, there isn’t enough wood available in China to meet demand.

A presentation from four students attending Feather River College has been described here as the “highlight” of the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference, which is billed as “the largest forest products and construction equipment expo in the west”. We’re told the young entrepreneurs even caught the attention of officials from Sierra Pacific Industries, which operates the sawmill in Quincy; a meeting is scheduled later this week. Says one of the students: “We think adding in a chopstick factory at our mill would add 100 jobs, and we only have a population of 5,000 people. Right now we’re in the research and development phase. We’re here.. to present an idea and learn.”