TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Nepal attempts record with a Dead Sea of plastic bags

Young Nepalis created a map of the Dead Sea with used plastic bags to set a new international record and raise awareness about the vast volumes polluting the world's oceans.

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
Kathmandu, Nepal
Fri, December 7, 2018

Share This Article

Change Size

Nepal attempts record with a Dead Sea of plastic bags Nepali volunteers tie up recycled plastic bags to make a sculpture shaped like the Dead Sea to set a new world record for the largest sculpture made out of recycled plastic bags, in Kathmandu on December 5, 2018. (AFP/Prakash Mathema)

Y

oung Nepalis created a map of the Dead Sea with used plastic bags Wednesday in a bid to set a new international record and raise awareness about the vast volumes polluting the world's oceans.

Volunteers tied 100,000 colorful used plastic bags on a metal grid 20 meters long and five meters tall, shaped like the Dead Sea, on open ground in Kathmandu's city center.

The record attempt was organized with a slogan "One Dead Sea is enough for us".

"We decided to tie plastic bags and make a sculpture of the Dead Sea to spread awareness over the world to minimize waste of plastic," Surgeon BC of Stem Foundation Nepal, the group that organised the event, told AFP.

Global plastic production has grown rapidly, and is currently more than 400 million tons per year. 

It is estimated that two to five percent of plastics wind up in the oceans, where much of it breaks down into tiny particles that harm marine life.

Read also: Plastic wasteland: Asia's ocean pollution crisis

"We hope this effort will help to keep seas clean and not let them become another dead sea," he said.

Over 150 volunteers worked for months to collect and sort used plastic bags from schools and public areas.

Among the participants was 20-year-old environment student Prakriti Pandey.

"I had heard news that plastic was found inside a dead whale, so I felt I should join this initiative to spread awareness around the world and in my country," she said. 

The current record for the world's largest sculpture of plastic bags was set in April 2012 when over 200 Singaporean volunteers shaped 68,000 plastic bags in the shape of an octopus, according to Guinness World Records.

The Nepalese group said it will now submit its claim with video evidence for a new record to Guinness. 

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.