London Islamic wins the vote

The London Islamic School has won a radio advert competition to record a professional jingle encouraging people to recycle. Pupils were asked to write and record a 60 second radio advert encouraging listeners to recycle more at home.

All primary and secondary schools in the borough were invited to take part in the Real World Challenge organised by Tower Hamlets Council’s waste contractor, Veolia, and UTV Media.

Campaigners in the borough were disappointed that Veolia was involved with the running of the competition. Veolia sells goods and services to the Israeli state, and many pro-Palestinian campaigners believes the company supports the “apartheid” system by which the Israelis oppress the Palestinians. Veolia has denied wrongdoing in the area, but it has lost several contracts with London Councils which have not wanted to do business with it.

Finalists in the competition included Culloden Primary, Old Ford Primary and Central Foundation Secondary. Commercials by the finalists were uploaded to the Veolia YouTube channel on March 16, and the public voted for their favourite over a fortnight. Schools were encouraged to create a social media campaign to make sure their entry ended up with the most views. London Islamic School’s radio advert received the most views and likes to win the competition.

Pupils were told of their win by Veolia in a school assembly (above) that took place on Wednesday, 29th April at the school in Whitechapel. The winning advert will be broadcast at 10am on 11th May on Reprezent radio 107.3FM, which is also available online.

•To view the finalists’ adverts, visit the Veolia YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/VeoliaESUK.

•To find out more about campaigners’ concerns over Veolia and the “dump Veolia” campaign, go to:
www.palestinecampaign.org/campaign/veolia/

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