Bottles for blessings: The Thai Buddhist temple that recycles plastics into robes
BANGKOK - At a Buddhist temple south of Bangkok, a monk watches as a machine presses down on thousands of water bottles, before a giant bale of crushed plastic rolls out with a thud.
The recycling temple of Wat Chak Daeng is one bright example of recycling for Thailand, one of five countries that account for more than half of plastic in the world’s oceans. “I’m practicing the Buddha’s teachings, which also align with solving the global environmental crisis,” says Phra Maha Pranom Dhammalangkaro, 54, abbot of the temple in Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok.
“Donating one kilogram of plastic bottles can help make a full set of monk robes, which has a high return value, both in terms of money and merits,” the monk says.Each set sells for between 2,000 baht and 5,000 baht , to keep funding the project and pay waste-sorting volunteers, many of whom are local housewives, retirees and disabled persons.
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