Following the successful conclusion of the 2019 COPA Coca-Cola grassroots football tournament, Coca-Cola has today awarded the schools and students that collected the most plastic as part of the Copa Coca-Cola recycle and win competition.
The 1,463 schools participated in the tournament competing for a chance to get their school pitches refurbished by Coca-Cola as well as other exciting prizes such as goal posts and nets, brand new 32-inch TV sets and mobile phones. The prizes also include cash sums for the total kilograms collected and scholarships for participating students.
Kanyabwanga Secondary School emerged Southern region and overall victor having collected 9,100 kilograms of plastic. From the East, Kitimbwa Bright Future S.S in Kayunga prevailed with 4,500kg while Buddo S.S was the best in Central region with 2,500kg of plastic collected. Teso Integrated S.S collected 1,630 kilograms to emerge Northern region winner.
Byamugisha Osward, also a teacher at Kanyabwanga S.S and Kenneth Akuguzibwe, a student from Kasese S.S, emerged overall best teacher and student in the recycling campaign and walked away with a brand new laptop and school fees respectively.
Commenting about the campaign, Sam Kangave – Manager Plastic Recycling Industries, an initiative of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda applauded the schools, students and teachers for participating in this campaign that benefits both the current and future generation.
He further noted that The Coca-Cola Company and all its bottling partners are leading the industry to help collect and recycle a bottle for every one we sell by 2030. We are working to bring people together to help us collect and recycle plastic in Uganda and this campaign is giving the young generation lessons about the dangers of plastic while giving back to them and their schools through a sport that unites them.
Currently, we are collecting an average of 450 tonnes of plastic per month at Plastic Recycling Industries, an equivalent of about 66 per cent of the plastic we push out as Century Bottling Company and Rwenzori Bottling Company. Part of our effort going forward is to help everybody understand Recycling – how to recycle, what to recycle, where to recycle, and the impact of NOT recycling properly. But we cannot do it alone. So far we have established successful partnerships with an eco-system of plastic waste collection Women groups in Kampala, the Kampala Capital City Authority, Masaka Collection Centre, Kabale Municipal Council, to mention but a few.
We are keen to sign up more partnerships, because the only way we can really create a World Without Waste is if we all do it together.
According to Arthur Akankwasa, the Coca-Cola Uganda Country Manager, “The recycling competition has been an eye opener for us, affirming the fact that creating knowledge and awareness about waste and its responsible management is key to sustainable behavior change. As the Coca-Cola system, we will ensure we continue with such campaigns targeting both awareness and behavior change on plastic waste collection and disposal. This will go a long way to ensure that the teens grow to be responsible members of the community.”
The winning school will be awarded with a refurbished football pitch, which will have a standardized playing ground, goal posts, nets and bleachers. The second best schools will receive goal posts, nets and balls while the third best schools will receive goal posts and nets. The winning teacher will receive a 32 inch Hisense TV set while the second and third best will receive brand new mobile phones. The winning students will receive school fees scholarships for one term.
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