Leslie Robinson Hall takes top honours in enviro competition
UWI students collect 65,500 bottles
THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies, (UWI) Mona’s Leslie Robinson Hall was awarded victory in the CocaCola 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 on Wednesday, December 11, at the UWI Regional Headquarters, Mona. Coca-Cola awarded the Leslie Robinson Hall with $500,000 towards the creation of a recycling initiative on the hall.
The occasion was hosted by Wisynco Group Limited, through its brand CocaCola, in association with Wisynco ECO, the company’s arm mandated to raise awareness about recycling. Detailed and engaging proposals were presented by Leslie Robinson, Mary Seacole, Irvine, Taylor and Aston Preston halls of residences, with key focus being placed on recycling and waste management.
The top five halls at the Mona campus presented written, animated and dramatic presentations to a panel of esteemed judges. The submissions 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.
STUDENT PARTICIPATION
Wisynco’s environment communication officer, Shelly-Ann Dunkley, was impressed by the level of student participation and 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 campaigns tie 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.
Hall Chair of the Leslie Robinson Hall, Shajunee Gumb, said they recognised that plastic bottle waste was rampant in Jamaica and so “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”.
Meanwhile, the UWI halls’ participation in the World Without Waste Bottle Drive exceeded the 200,000 target set by Coca-Cola and Wisynco Eco. A whopping 336,000 plastic bottles were collected by the 11 halls on campus for recycling over a two-month period, October to November. The bottles were collected and tallied through Wisynco Ecos association with Recycling Partners of Jamaica Limited.
A cash prize of $250,000 was awarded to Elsa Leo-Rhynie Hall (Towers), who collected 65,570 plastic bottles. Irvine Hall followed suit with 53,819 for a cash reward of $150,000, while Mary Seacole Hall secured the third spot with more than 46,968 bottles for a prize of $100,000.
Chair of Elsa Leo-Rynie Hall, Ravin Singh, stated that although recycling was not new, it is not widely seen as attractive to university students.
“It was difficult to get my peers interested. However, we hosted internal competitions with the towers on the hall and provided incentives to increase competitiveness,” he said. “Eventually, it evolved from being just on campus to off campus as well, which was why we were able to collect so many bottles.”
The Coca-Cola World Without Waste initiative will make its next stop at the University of Technology, Jamaica in 2020.