The program takes the success of SMS Mission 1000 to the next level by increasing the scope of positive impact to 11 lakh children in over 5000 schools

New Delhi, 14th December, 2017:  Coca-Cola India along with American India Foundation (AIF) today launched the SMS Mission Recycling with the aim to sensitize children from over 5000 schools on waste management after realizing a successful Support My School (SMS) Mission 1000 schools. The project seeks to contribute towards the government’s cleanliness mission and will focus on proper collection and segregation of waste including Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).

The SMS Mission Recycling initiative aims to promote better waste management practices through adoption of efficient collection and segregation methods to facilitate recycling. Aligned to the Government’s Swachh Bharat, Swachh Vidyalaya (Clean India Clean Schools) Mission, the programme will also be looking to set up or facilitate waste management systems in communities as well as schools. In the first phase of the program, Coca-Cola India has partnered with the American India Foundation (AIF) to positively impact an estimated 11 lakh children in over 5000 government schools nationwide and over 1 lakh community members on the long-term benefits of proper solid waste management.

Nishant Pandey, CEO of American India Foundation said, “Building on our experience of driving awareness of sanitation & hygiene issues across schools in India, we believe that engaging students with waste management and recycling concepts will give them a deeper understanding of the huge role that sustainability plays in our future. We’re excited to partner with Coca-Cola on the Support My School – Mission Recycling campaign which aims to reach 5000 schools across 10 states in order to give children the chance to build a cleaner tomorrow and a sustainable future.”

T. Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said, “We believe that sustainable development should be at the heart of everything that we do and we must collaborate with our partners to find and develop solutions for a sustainable future. We are now excited to launch SMS Mission Recycling in association with American India Foundation to create awareness among school children and communities on proper ways to implement waste segregation and recycling. Children are change agents for a better tomorrow. They have the influence to sensitize their communities and as the future of our country, they grow up aligned to such environmental causes.”

The first edition of Support My School had a positive impact on over 3.5 lakh school children in more than 1000 schools across the country. During this journey, thousands of toilets, urinals and wash stations were revitalised and hundreds of playgrounds were established in disadvantaged schools. Support My School addressed the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) needs and contributed meaningfully to the government’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ drive, and the revitalized schools now serve as model schools in several districts.

Vikram Chandra, Consulting Editor, NDTV said, “It has been a long and satisfying seven years journey with Support My School.  We are glad that our partnership with Coca-Cola and so many other partners has brought real change on ground and in attitude of people. In many ways, this is a path breaking campaign, as it brings all stakeholders including the government on board. Support My School has travelled all over the country and achieved the goal of catalysing change in schools and communities in rural and semi-urban India and we are proud of it.”

Avijeet Kumar, Chief Operational Officer, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)—the first implementation partner of SMS Mission 1000 said, “Support My School is an innovative campaign aimed at transforming lives of thousands of children across the country and we are extremely proud to be associated with it. From educating children about rain water harvesting, to ensuring access to proper sanitation, the campaign has helped promoting positive environment in schools. Interventions such as these are important to address the broad socio-economic gap and educational inequalities in our country. The impact seen in 1000 schools through this campaign has been extremely satisfying.

Bhushan Tuladhar, Regional Technical Advisor, South Asia - ‎UN-HABITAT said, “Our congratulations to all partners and friends of the Support My School (SMS) campaign for achieving “SMS Mission 1000”. It is a remarkable that the campaign has reached over 4, 00,000 students across 1100 schools in the region. We look forward to support the next phase of the initiative – SMS Mission Recycling.”

Cherian Thomas, CEO, World Vision India said, "Support My School (SMS) has been a fruitful partnership and we are happy to share that 1, 24, 563 children have been impacted across 23 states through this initiative. Through this campaign we have achieved construction of toilets, hand wash stations and child friendly spaces with play equipment accessible to all including children with disabilities. This has resulted in higher enrolment of students, retention and attendance of both teachers and students in more than 300 schools which is the hallmark/core of the campaign. We look forward to such partnerships and support that will go a long way in nurturing children across the nation."

Dr. Suresh Reddy, Director, SRF Foundation said, “It has been a great four year experience working with Coca-Cola India for Support My School initiative, from Season 2 to Season 5. With our collaborative efforts, we have successfully brought about a positive change in the health, sanitation and lifestyles of 14,500 children from 52 government schools in Haryana (Mewat) and Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior, Bhind and Dhar). We need more such initiatives like Support My School, which has enabled holistic growth of children in many schools across the nation.”

Bhagyashri Dengle, Executive Director, Plan India said, “Our work on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) aims to ensure that children and communities have access to clean water and sanitary facilities. By providing access to WASH services, children and youth from excluded communities and urban slums are able to not only lead healthier lifestyle but also attend schools regularly. Through the SMS campaign we have impacted 77515 children from 272 Government schools across nine states in India. We are happy to partner with Coca-Cola in this endeavor and congratulate them on reaching the 1100 school milestone.”

Coca-Cola India is relentlessly working on creating a positive difference in the state of school education and the company has an unabated focus on sustainability.

About The Coca-Cola System in India

The Coca-Cola system comprising of Coca-Cola India Private Limited, a concentrate supply company along with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited and fifteen (15) franchise bottling partners of The Coca-Cola Company offer a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. From the year 1993, when The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta,  re-started its operations in India, the system has been refreshing consumers with its beverage products - Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Thums Up Charged, Fanta, Fanta Green Mango, Limca, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Maaza, VIO flavoured milk, Minute Maid range of juices, FUZE tea, Georgia and Georgia gold range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Aquarius, Schweppes, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water and Kinley Club Soda. The Coca-Cola system through its strong network of over 2.6 million retail outlets, touches the lives of millions of consumers, at a rate of more than 500 servings per second. Its brands are some of the most loved and sold beverages in the country – Thums Up and Sprite – being the top two selling sparkling beverages.

The Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to over 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people. The Coca-Cola system in India is contributing in its own small way to building sustainable communities through community initiatives like Support My School, VEER, Parivartan and Unnati and by reducing its own environmental footprint. For further information on the company's India operations and its products, please visit: www.coca-colaindia.com and www.hindustancoca-cola.com

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For further information on the company's India operations and its products, please visit: www.coca-colaindia.com and www.hindustancoca-cola.com; follow us on twitter at twitter.com/CocaCola_Ind or on Facebook.

About American India Foundation (AIF)

The American India Foundation is committed to catalyzing social and economic change in India, and building a lasting bridge between the United States and India through high-impact interventions in education, livelihoods, public health, and leadership development. Working closely with local communities, AIF partners with NGOs to develop and test innovative solutions and with governments to create and scale sustainable impact. Founded in 2001 at the initiative of President Bill Clinton following a suggestion from Prime Minister Vajpayee, AIF has impacted the lives of 3.7 million of India’s poor. Learn more at www.AIF.org.