Coca Cola has announced that the schools taking part in the 2019 COPA Coca Cola plastic recycling competition so far collected an impressive 92,057.70 kilograms of PET.
There are at least 198 participating in the competition with the leading schools being Queen of Rosary from Central region having collected 1,935 kilograms, Elburgon PCEA Secondary School from Rift Valley region 2,237 kilograms and Ruaraka High School from Nairobi 938 kilograms.
Other notable schools are Moi Girls Isinya 876 kilograms, Ong’icha Secondary School and Nyaura Secondary School from Nyanza region having collected 2,889 kilograms and 2,932 kilograms respectively. In the Eastern region, Embu Secondary has 3,818 kilograms with St Antony Siakago having 513 kilograms and Masii Boys High School at 710 kilograms.
The winning schools will be awarded with a refurbished football pitch which will have a standardized playing ground, goal posts, nets, score board and the students supplied with soccer bibs. The second best schools will receive goal posts, nets, corner flags, score boards and player bibs. Finally, the third best school will be handed soccer ball and jerseys.
The COPA Coca-Cola Plastic recycling initiative is concurrently on-going in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The company currently runs similar programs in South Africa (Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa and Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages) and collectively run the biggest schools recycling programme in the country.
Emily Waita, Head Public Affairs Communication and Sustainability Coca-Cola East, West and Central Africa Franchise, had this to say, “The inaugural 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 a system, we will ensure we continue with the behavior change campaign in years to come. This will go a long way to ensure that the teens grow to be responsible members of the community.”