Housewives and pensioners are recycling used lottery tickets into paper ornaments that are used in Buddhist funerals in Thailand.

More than 20 volunteers from the Rat at Nong Kung group in Khon Kaen province create the beautiful handicrafts by cutting and gluing the folded pieces of paper together to form pretty paper flowers, butterflies, and fans.

They started the recycling project after noticing the large amount of waste generating in their neighbourhood.

Volunteers are now divided into three different groups, each with an assigned task. The first group collects used lottery tickets, the second creates the ornament handles using incense sticks and candles, and the last group cuts and folds the pieces of paper.

Village council chief Piyachat Tewhuang said: ‘They were together like this before the pandemic started, and did not stop even when it was happening. They all came up with the idea of the funeral flowers as many funerals were happening at the local temple.

‘Locals are encouraged to send in used lottery tickets and detergent bags so we can make the best use out of the waste.’

The paper ornaments are sold at the local temple in bags of 100 pieces priced at 100 to 150 THB (about 2.2 to 3.3 GBP) depending on the design of the handicraft.

Ten percent of the revenue generated is donated to the temple, while another 10% goes to funding the purchase of materials. The remainder is divided among the volunteers.