BANGKOK – At a Buddhist temple south of Bangkok, a monk watches as a machine presses down on thousands of water bottles, before a giant bale of crushed plastic rolls out with a thud. The plas… ...

At a Buddhist temple south of Bangkok, Thailand, plastic water bottles are recycled into fabric for saffron-coloured robes for monks. Wat Chak Daeng temple has recycled 40 tonnes of plastic into ...

Each of the blocks was made from a recycled-plastic material called High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Coloured powder was added to the plastic pellets to give the material its vibrant hues.