Green Nirvana: Thai Buddhist temple built from recycled refuse

Here in the US, we recycle but we don’t always see what our waste goes to. Not so in Thailand where recycling takes on new meaning at the Buddhist temple Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew, 370 miles northeast of Bangkok in the Si Saket province. Also known as Wat Lan Kuad, or “Temple of Million Bottles,” the temple uses discarded bottles to construct everything on the temple site from the crematorium to toilets.

All in all there are about 1.5 million recycled bottles in the temple, and those at the temple are committed to recycling even more. “The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make,” Abbot San Kataboonyo told Reuters.

Recycling doesn’t stop at bottles; mosaics around the temple, mostly of Buddha, are made out of bottle caps. Besides being green, the recycled bottles don’t fade, provide great light and are easy to maintain. Sounds like a pretty cool green location to put on your next eco-tour of Southeast Asia.