Global Buddhist humanitarian organization Tzu Chi Foundation not only provides free medical treatment to poor patients in different countries. It is also a staunch protector of the environment being into plastic waste recycling for decades.

Tzu Chi Eye Center Manila medical volunteers and staff learned this during their visit to the Tzu Chi Recycling Station and Educational Center in the Neihu District of Taipei, Taiwan.

During a lecture, the visitors were introduced to Da.AI Technology, the New York-based company whose owner was inspired by Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen to embrace her environmental protection mission in 1990.

Da.AI Technology develops plastic bottles and other recyclable materials into textiles to produce eco-friendly clothing, bedding and other eco-products. All proceeds from the sale of these items go to Tzu Chi’s charity works.

Since 2009, Da.AI Technology has already saved 60 million polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles from going to landfills and oceans. It has also produced out of those PET bottles over one million thermal blankets, which Tzu Chi distributes to disaster victims across the world as part of its international relief work.

A type of resin and a form of polyester, PET can be recycled again and again.

The recycling center had its origin in 1990 when Master Cheng Yen passed by street blocks littered with garbage while on her way to a school to give a talk.

At the end of her lecture on that day, she appealed to her audience to use their clapping hands to practice recycling and love the earth. Since then, volunteers from all walks of life have devoted themselves to Tzu Chi’s environmental protection mission.

One of them is a 90-year-old woman who comes to the station every day to segregate plastic bottles according to color, removes the caps and neck rings, sorts papers and does many other recycling works. The work of the old lady and other elderly volunteers was tedious and dirty, but they were patient and motivated by their love for the environment.

Visiting Neihu Recycling Center was an eye-opening experience for the Eye Center team from Manila. Volunteer Mari Belle Dy shared: “I realized that if we remove the plastics, we would be able to enjoy the beauty of the world. I also learned to refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle. If I practice them at home it might encourage some people around me to also do it.”