Photo courtesy of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation; photo courtesy of CNA
Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) Some 2,000 volunteers mobilized by a leading religious group in Taiwan have collected more than 390,000 plastic bottles from the Taipei 2017 Universiade Athletes' Village in Linkou for recycling, one of the volunteers said Tuesday.
The recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles can be used to make textiles and other products, which would lead to the reduction of about 25 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, said Liu Chuan-dung, a volunteer leader from the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation that organized the effort.
During the Taipei Universiade Aug 19-30, the approximately 10,000 athletes and workers at the Athletes' Village used about 17,000 plastic bottles a day on average, Liu said.
He said the Tzu Chi volunteers collected the discarded bottles at a specific place and time in the village every day and took them to recycling facilities in the greater Taipei area and Taoyuan.
By the time the athletes left on Sept 2, some 390,000 plastic bottles had been collected from the Athletes' Village in Linkou, New Taipei, Liu said.
