A school made from trash in Cambodia

Ouk Vandey, known as the “rubbish man”, teaches students in a classroom with walls made from painted used car tires at the Coconut School at Kirirom National Park in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia.

The school is almost entirely built out of trash. At the entrance of the school, recycled plastic bottles are shaped and colored in the image of a Cambodian flag.

On the left are used coffee cups and bottle covers used as walls to protect the building from rain. In the midst of this, tall pine trees adorn the front yard.

Ouk Vanday, a former hotel manager, dreams of a waste-free Cambodia in the future. “We hope they’ll become new activists in Cambodia, understanding the use, management and recycling of waste,” Vanday said.