Paper Bag Co, with the help of Varn Media and the pupils at Fitzmaurice Primary School in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, has smashed the world record for making the largest paper bag in the world.
After months of planning, a postponement due to rain and the gruelling work of piecing together a lot of large strips of paper, the most gigantic paper shopping bag ever made on Earth became reality at Fitzmaurice Primary School in Bradford on Avon on 23 September 2015.
To beat the previous world record set in India on 12 January 2014 by Footprints X4 and Pastiwala.com, the shopping bag had to be over 18.55 metres long, 11.33 metres wide and 2.94 metres deep.
The Paper Bag Co record breaking bag measured a huge 22.50 metres long, 15.41 metres wide and 3.36 metres deep.
To accomplish our world record we used:
1,400 metres (almost a mile) of brown paper, 16 football pitches long.
4,800 metres (3 miles long) of paper tape, 53 football pitches long.
1,500 metres of paper string (a mile), 16 football pitches.
An Enormous Accomplishment
Jon Marling, Director of the Paper Bag Co, the paper bag supplier that now claims the new world record, explained the reasons behind this ‘literally’ enormous project.
“We are really happy to hold a world record. As a bag supplier to retailers we make every effort to understand where we can support sustainable solutions using environmentally friendly materials that are easy to recycle such as paper, cotton or bamboo. This has been a really fun project and we are proud to have accomplished this amazing record for Great Britain with the help of staff from Varn Media and the school children at Fitzmaurice primary school,” said Marling.
After hours of painstakingly putting the bag together, a structural engineer, Tapani Saarinen from Malishev Engineers, based in Bath, took the final measurements of the dimensions of the bag and this was witnessed by Bristol based Jason Heath, Relationship Manager from Santander Bank.
Tom Vaughton, Director of Varn Media, an SEO agency near Bristol said on completion of the bag: “It’s been an exciting, long and rewarding day to finally know we have the record! I want to thank all the hard work and vision of the staff at Varn Media for making this possible and the school children and teachers from Fitzmaurice who have made this historic day for Wiltshire and the UK extremely special.”.
With the record now ‘in the bag’ the paper from the huge object is being made into smaller souvenir bags for the children to take home. During the day of the world record attempt, the children decorated the bag and helped with its construction.
Head Teacher of Fitzmaurice School, Tracey Dunn said: “Being involved in a world record on the school grounds will have forged some life-long memories for the children and this was a very inspirational event to show them what can be achieved. For the week around the record attempt we discussed world records with the pupils in depth. The children painted pictures on the bag of a world record that has been achieved or one they would like to achieve one day. We also took professional pictures of the children beside the gigantic bag they helped build, so parents can purchase them and raise funds for the school.”
On 5 October this year, if you want to use plastic carrier bags in the supermarkets there is to be a 5p levy per bag. Paper Bag Co suggests that retailers can simply change over to paper bags where possible, as they are much easier to recycle.