Guinness World Records: School attempts largest plastic bottle sentence

Headmaster Jonathan Parsons said pupils were keen to make a "statement" with the bottles

School pupils are hoping to enter the world record books after spelling out a sentence with 3,325 plastic bottles.

Children at St Edward's Prep in Reading took 45 minutes to arrange them into the line "There is only one Earth".

Guinness World Records has yet to verify the total, but said the current record is 2,560 bottles, achieved in Dubai, UAE, in August 2020.

Headmaster Jonathan Parsons said pupils were keen to make a "statement" about climate change and the environment.

The school, which teaches children aged three to 11, had collected 4,000 bottles from neighbours, hotels, shops, and restaurants.

Only 3,325 of them were required for the sentence. All of them are being sent for recycling afterwards.

The school said the number of bottles was "assiduously checked"

The slogan was suggested by a five-year-old pupil, and was then voted on by the whole school.

"That set how many bottles we would use so we could spell it out in a really good, clear way," Mr Parsons said.

"Part of what we do with our education is always try and encourage the children to use what they learn to do something good and this is a big, whole school effort."

The school said the number of bottles was "assiduously checked and counted by independent volunteer officials" for later submission to Guinness World Records.