Turning bottles into blankets(2)
The Buddhist organization Tzu Chi runs a program that recycles bottles to make polyester blankets, scarves and clothes for disaster victims.
Script:
Student volunteers in Taiwan organize hundreds and hundreds of
plastic bottles - heaps of trash that to be recycled into
polyester blankets.
The Buddhist organization - Tzu Chi - started this project -
providing blankets, scarves and now clothing to victims of
disasters.
Nine bottles are enough to make a scarf. 12 bottles will make a
polo shirt.
18-year-old volunteer He Yao-Tung.
SOUNDBITE: He Yao-Tung, Volunteer
"In the past, I did not know plastic bottles could become
clothes. This is magical. This may be just because I am not very
knowledgeable. When I was sorting the bottles, I could understand
the hard work behind it. It helps me to learn about different
values."
Once the bottles are organized, the Tzu Chi organization sends
them off to a factory.
Workers sort the bottles -- and process the plastic into a
polyester fabric.
As the fabric is rolled out, a team of about 100 volunteers -
mostly elderly and retired people-- cut, stitch, fold and package
the signature gray blankets.
Volunteers produce more than 3,000 blankets a day.
63-year-old volunteer Wang Kao-Ming.
SOUNDBITE: Wang Kao-Ming, Volunteer
"From beginning to end, I don't know how many volunteers have
been involved, that's why after we cut the blankets, if there is
left over fabric, we make scarves out of them. If the fabrics are
smaller, we make little stuffed toys and try to make the most use
of the fabrics."
The group sells some of their products to raise funds for
disaster relief. Others go straight to disaster areas.
Tzu Chi has sent relief supplies to more than 20 countries and
some of the world's worst disasters - including Hurricane Katrina
in the United States and the Sichuan earthquake in China last
year.
Sarah Irwin, Reuters.