A Thai Buddhist monastery is leading a recycling drive to clean up the environment
Phra Maha Pranom Dhammalangkaro, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery in Samut Prakan province, near Bangkok, stands by piles of waste brought for recycling to his temple. (Photo: Tibor Krausz)
By Tibor Krausz
The Buddhist monastery of Wat Chak Daeng sprawls across scenic, leafy ground on a bank of the meandering Chao Phraya River.
Yet at first glance the temple in Samut Prakan province, near Bangkok, looks less like a place of worship than a recycling plant.
For starters, greeting visitors by the gate are growing mounds of discarded plastic bottles. Among the piles of plastic waste, local volunteers busy themselves sorting a variety of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles into neat piles. Nearby, a man is operating a machine that crushes colorless water bottles so that they can be packed into big blocks.
Get the latest from UCA News. Sign-up to receive our daily newsletter
“I come here every day,” says Parichart Seajeng, a heavyset middle-aged housewife who removes caps from drinks bottles and pours leftover liquids from them into a bucket. “My kids are grown and I have nothing much to do at home. I can be of use here.”
Click here to read the full article
Help us keep UCA News independent
The Church in Asia needs objective and independent journalism to speak the truth about the Church and the state. With a network of professionally qualified journalists and editors across Asia, UCA News is all about this mission.
A small donation of US$2 a month would make a big difference in our quest to achieve our goal.
Share your comments
SPECIAL EBOOK
