– Over 2 lakhs Kids from more than 105 schools collected more than 1.1 million plastic bottles for recycling as they learned about their impact on the environment

Mumbai, 13th April, 2016: To mark the success of the Bisleri Swachh Bharat Plastic Bottle Recycling Initiative, Bisleri International felicitated schools who had helped Bisleri in winning The Guinness World Record for collecting the Highest Number of used Plastic Bottles for Recycling. These schools were rewarded with participation certificates from Guinness World Records, Limca book of records and gifts & certificates from Bisleri.
The earlier Guinness World Record was 13,408 kgs which was achieved by a school in Florida. Bisleri surpassed that record by collecting 23,538.9 kgs of PET bottles i.e. 1.1 million bottles, and entered Limca Book of Records as well as Guinness Records.
The idea behind the record was to propagate the Swachh Bharat campaign, initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by launching a school contact programme. To reach out to maximum students and spread awareness, the world record attempt was taken up.
105 prestigious schools in Mumbai and over 2 lakh students had participated in this collection activity to help the beverage company achieve this milestone of winning Guinness World record.
To honour and motivate the students Bollywood Actor, John Abraham, Mr. Vijay Merchant, One of the founder members of Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment and Mr. Sameer Unhale, State Mission Director, Swachh Maharashtra Mission directorate, Govt. of Maharashtra were also present.
Bisleri promotes the idea of collection of bottles to avoid environmental nuisance. The company believes in recycling the plastic bottles to non-food items only.

Speaking on the school felicitation, Mr. Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman, Bisleri International, said, “The message to Indian consumers is that plastic bottles are valuable resources even after they’ve been used. The simple act of recycling helps generate local revenue, supports recycling jobs, and enables us to continue to benefit from these useful resources. It is a matter of pride for us as a company that we have been able to gather more than 1.1million PET bottles for recycling with the help from all these kids who are going to be the future of the country. This initiative has helped change the mindset of the people towards plastic bottles and has inculcated good values in the children and made them believe that they can make a big difference by taking a small step.”
The bottles collected during the activity will get a second lease of life as eco-friendly products and will be recycled into non-food items like T-shirts, bags, sheets, carpets, etc. To encourage the use of such products Bisleri handed goodies made from recycled bottles to the students.
PET is the acronym for Polyethylene Teraphthalates – a kind of plastic among the several types available and used for different purposes on a day-to-day basis. Bisleri’s bottled mineral water too is manufactured by making use of PET plastic. Over decades, Bisleri has been successfully supporting the recycling of tonnes of PET every year, leading to fruitful ‘asset management’.
Top ten Mumbai schools with maximum collection were, Infant Jesus School, Pawar Public School, D. G. Khetan International School, Christ Church School, Ryan International School, St. Xavier’s High School, Kudilal Govindram Seksaria Sarvodaya School, Yashodham High School, Bombay Scottish School and Don Bosco High School.