Video: Dubai school creates world's largest plastic bottle cap mosaic

Students of GEMS' Al Barsha National School for Boys made a total of 13,434 bottle caps to spell out 'Zayed's ambitions embrace space' in Arabic.-Photo by Shihab

A Dubai school has set a new world record for the largest plastic-bottle-cap mosaic that spells out a phrase.
Nearly 400 pupils at GEMS' Al Barsha National School for Boys used 13,434 bottle caps to spell out 'Zayed's ambitions embrace space' in Arabic.
Bottle caps in the colours of the UAE flag - white, green, black and red - were used to honour the upcoming 48^th National Day of the country. Using glue guns, the schoolkids stuck them on a customised 14m-by-2.2m wooden board.
It took the children just a bit over an hour to break the world record, which was previously set by Japan with the use of 5,009 bottle caps.
But the achievement also comes with an eco-responsibility. "One of the last sentences of our rules says that you must recycle the bottle caps once you are done with them," an official from the Guinness World Records told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the event.
Tribute to UAE Rulers
Explaining how they came up with the phrase, the principal of the school, Karim Murcia, said: "The use of this sentence demonstrates our commitment to supporting and celebrating the achievements of the UAE and the success of the National Agenda.
"Celebrating this remarkable achievement aligns with our own mission to provide a vibrant learning community committed to delivering the highest standards of academic excellence in all areas. Through the school's rigorous British national curriculum and character and leadership development programmes, we strive to ensure that our students become successful and innovative global citizens and leaders with a strong national identity."
The CEO of GEMS Education, Dino Varkey, said that by creating the world's largest mosaic made of plastic bottle caps, the group wanted to pay tribute to the UAE Rulers and their "visionary leadership".
"The UAE has transformed itself over the last 48 years into a dynamic modern nation that is admired by the rest of the world for its ability to evolve and change with the times," he said.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com