Plastic cups runneth over at Cambodia's Rubbish Cafe

Ouk Vanday, the founder of the Coconut School which teaches English and good waste management, smiles at his Rubbish Cafe coffee shop at the Kirirom National Park in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia, July 6, 2019. REUTERS/Lach Chantha

KOMPONG SPEU, Cambodia (Reuters) - As Southeast Asia grapples with massive tides of rubbish hitting its beaches, a Cambodian coffee shop owner is looking to build a business out of some of this waste as a way to promote sustainability.

Ouk Vanday runs "Rubbish Cafe", a small wooden structure on the outskirts of Phnom Penh reinforced with walls made out of beer and plastic water bottles. The cafe spells its name with dead leaves on its signboard.