It’s official: Costa Rica sets world record for recycling

Guinness World Records now lists ecolones in Costa Rica as the record-holder for “most plastic bottles recycled in eight hours.”

According to Guinness, a recycling drive organized by ecolones collected 30,162 kg (66,495.83 lb) of plastic bottles in Belén, Heredia on Dec. 7, 2018. More than two-dozen companies donated bottles to help achieve the record.

 

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Costa Rica logró establecer un nuevo título de GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS por la mayor cantidad de botellas plásticas para reciclar en 8 horas. #HicimosHistoria

A post shared by ecolones (@ecolones) on Jan 29, 2019 at 12:28pm PST

In July 2018, ecolones had tried — but failed — to take the recycling title from Bisleri International Pvt Ltd., which had set the record in Mumbai, India in 2015.

In addition to the organization’s record-setting efforts, ecolones is a virtual currency that incentivizes sustainability by providing discounts to people who recycle.

Despite the record, Costa Rica has a less-than-stellar relationship with recycling. The country restricted single-use plastics at public institutions last year, part of efforts to curb the plastic pollution that has plagued Costa Rica’s rivers.

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