Taiwan Charity Recycles

Taiwan's recycling program is making headlines again after gaining "eco-fabric" used to make the jerseys for nine teams in the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa. Tha nation’s largest charity group, the Tzu Chi Foundation, has begun transforming plastic bottles from garbage into usable goods. "Plastic bottles won't be decomposed even if they are buried for 1,000 years so we started to recycle and re-use them to reduce garbage and pollution," said Chien Tung-yuan, a spokesman for the foundation. "The used bottles are being treated and processed in a 13-step procedure to be made into textiles such as blankets and clothes and even dolls."

At each of the 5,400 recycling stations operated across Taiwan by the Tzu Chi Foundation, hundreds of volunteers help sort and recycle plastic waste along with used glass bottles and electronic appliances. The organization boasts over 76,000 volunteers and has distributed more than 460,000 blankets made from plastic bottles since 2007 for relief use at home and abroad.

In Taipei, volunteers in charge of crushing the plastic bottles are from two nearby nursing homes for the mentally ill. The recycling work has also become part of their therapy, Chien said. "They come in twice a week as the simple task helps them concentrate and stabilize their emotions. It's not only therapeutic for them but also for a very good cause."

Taiwan boasts more than 70 percent recycling rates after they initiated recycling plastic more than a decade ago, according to the Environmental Protection Administration. In 2011 alone, 193,000 tons of used plastic were collected and turned into raw $172 million worth materials.