Taiwan’s largest charity, Tzu Chi Foundation, has found a way to make a difference with plastic bottle waste.

The foundation runs 5,400 recycling stations across Taiwan with the help of more than 76,000 volunteers. They work through a13-step process that turns plastic bottle waste into blankets, which are in turn used for relief use—both at home and abroad. Since 2007, they have distributed nearly half a million blankets.

For the volunteers in charge of crushing the plastic bottles, who are from two nearby nursing homes for the mentally ill, the recycling work has also become part of their therapy.

Taiwan started recycling plastic more than a decade ago and today it boasts more than 70% recycling rates, according to the Environmental Protection Administration.