Coca-Cola awards Leslie Robinson Hall for national recycling campaign pitch

The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona’s Leslie Robinson Hall was awarded the winning position in the Coca-Cola World Without Waste initiative for its proposal for a national recycling campaign pitch dubbed ‘No Bottle Left Behind’. The announcement was made during the finals of the World Without Waste Campaign Pitch and Bottle Drive Competition last Wednesday at the UWI Regional Headquarters in Kingston. Coca-Cola awarded the Leslie Robinson Hall $500,000 towards the creation of a ­recycling initiative on hall.

The occasion was hosted by Wisynco Group Limited through its brand Coca-Cola in association with Wisynco ECO, the company’s arm mandated to raise awareness about recycling. Detailed and engaging proposals were presented by the Leslie Robinson, Mary Seacole, Irvine, Taylor, and Aston Preston halls of residences, with key focus placed on recycling and waste management. The top five halls at the Mona campus gave written, animated, and dramatic presentations to a panel of esteemed judges that included communication material and original jingles to sensitise and get Jamaicans excited about recycling. The proposals were all in alignment with Coca-Cola’s global initiative, which aims to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle that is produced or sold by the company by 2030.

Wisynco’s environment communication officer, Shelly-Ann Dunkley, was impressed by the level of student participation and the number of interesting ideas. “It is great to see so many young people involved and enthusiastic about creating a sustainable environment through recycling. We are pleased with the numerous strategies and campaigns presented. Their campaign ties in well with Wisynco and Coca-Cola’s goal to positively influence the recycling habits of consumers and heighten public awareness around the implications of ignoring environmental issues,” said Dunkley.

Chair of the Leslie Robinson Hall Shajunee Gumb expressed that she realised that plastic-bottle waste was abundant in Jamaica. “We decided to create a recycling proposal tailored to the Jamaican demographic that would include the youth as young adults have a great impact on the world,” she said. “The World Without Waste campaign is a great initiative by Coca-Cola as it looks towards sustainable development because we want to ensure that our children and their children have a clean Jamaica to live in.”

The Coca-Cola World Without Waste ­initiative will make its next stop at the University of Technology, Jamaica, in 2020.