Vesak is one of the most important festivals on the Buddhist calendar. This great day is celebrated in a spectacular manner every year. Many projects were carried out this year by various universities in collaboration with the zero plastic national movement to encourage society to limit the use of plastic for decorations with the theme of “Vesak celebration without using plastic.”
The open university of Sri Lanka’s Zero Plastic Club published a post series on how to create Vesak lanterns in stages using recycled materials such as paper. These post series were distributed over Facebook and WhatsApp. They also publish images of the lanterns made by their club members out of recycled materials.
The University of Kelaniya’s zero plastic initiative held a poetry competition with the theme “let’s get ready for an eco-friendly Vesak festival.” The winners of the competition were chosen by posting on the Zero Plastic Kelaniya Facebook page, with shares and likes acting as voting criteria. This was done in the hopes of inspiring poets who are looking for opportunities.
The Zero Plastic club of the University of Sabaragamuwa launched an interesting model project on how to use recycling waste to create wonderful eye-catching Vesak lanterns to brighten up this festive season. They have collected photos of marvelous Vesak lanterns created by nature lovers who want to showcase their talent and share those posts via Facebook to reach the project’s outcome to society.
Nipuni Gamage
University of peradeniya
Faculty of science