Originating from the idea of recycling plastic waste, an initiative to build Buddhist pagoda and school from plastic bottles has been launched in provinces of Tra Vinh and Quang Ngai.
Long Buu pagoda located in Nhi Long Phu commune of Tra Vinh province’s Cang Long district has built a charity school from used plastic bottles on an area of 100m2 land donated by locals in the commune’s Son Trang village.
The construction consists of two classrooms with vocational and foreign language trainings for disadvantaged pupils in Nhi Long Phu and neighboring communes.
The idea of building a school from plastic bottles was initiated by Venerable Thích Minh Trí, Abbot of Long Buu pagoda. After a call of the abbot, lay Buddhists and local people donated 5,152 plastic bottles to the pagoda for building the school’s walls instead of using bricks.
A wall made from plastic bottles and B30 iron net has been completed
According to Venerable Thích Minh Trí, the charity construction has an investment of about 300 million VND, contributed by efforts and financial supports by lay Buddhists and locals in order to create a place for pupils in remote areas to study at night and during the summer.
The construction helps spread the message of environmental protection and using wastes that are hazardous and difficult to decompose into useful products.
Due to impacts of social distancing to the Covid-19 prevention, the new school will be completed later than the planed schedule, and it’s expected to be formally inaugurated in about 2 months. The pagoda currently continues collecting plastic bottles to build auxiliary facilities such as fences and public toilets.
Charity school built with plastic bottles is under completion
In Quang Ngai, Duc Lam pagoda located in Mo Duc district’s Duc Loi commune has impressed visitors with the architecture of the pagoda’s reception hall made from plastic bottles and thatched with leaves of water coconut tree.
Green space of Duc Lam pagoda
The construction was made from nearly 60,000 plastic bottles which cleaned, sanded inside and cemented to replace the conventional brick building method.
The pagoda reception room was completed in the summer of 2020. In addition to a unique architecture, it is also meaningful in mobilizing locals and tourists not to throw plastic waste into the sea and spreading knowledge on the environmental protection.
The abbot of Duc Lam pagoda had mobilized people to collect garbage for cleaning beaches. Particularly plastic bottles are brought back to be cleaned for building the pagoda’s reception hall
