Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

On October 2, a rescue boat made by the Tzu Chi Foundation out of recycled plastic bottles won the first prize at a competition in Manila, capital of the Philippines. For this, it won the top prize of 20,000 pesos (about NT$13,600) which it donated to its charity work.

The event was held at the Army Navy Club in Luneta, which organized the event to find the best environmentally friendly rescue boat. Each year the Philippines is hit by typhoons that cause serious flooding; such boats are badly needed to rescue those stranded by the waters. Tzu Chi’s boat is made of 1,138 PET plastic bottles and can carry 15 people; it is designed for tropical weather. It was larger and more stable than other boats entered in the competition, which was not a race over distance but a contest over which would be most useful in a natural disaster.

“This boat is made out of 1138 plastic bottles that were collected by Tzu Chi volunteers,” said its maker, Tzu Chi volunteer Rico Balid. “The wires, tires and other parts are all from the recycling station.” He said the idea for it came from the fact that Manila was regularly flooded by heavy rain and that he wanted to create a boat from recycled materials. “I can finish an eco-friendly lifeboat like this in three weeks, if there are more people working on it, we could probably finish it in three days to a week.”

Angel Espiritu, an official of the Manila city government, operated the boat himself. He was full of praise: “we want to tell other cities and the whole world that we are using a boat made out of recycled materials and can save lives. This is a reality in Manila.”

In November, the new boat will be shown at an exhibition to be attended by 60 foreign diplomats, as a model for how to make a rescue boat out of recycled materials in other countries.