KWAZULU-NATAL pupils yesterday won their share of 20 000 Fifa World Cup tickets in a waste recycling programme, at Overport in Durban.

Pupils from 20 KZN high schools took part in a recycling programme run by the Education Department and Coca-Cola in association with the 2010 Fifa World Cup ticket fund.

Two hundred high schools from throughout South Africa participated in the initiative. The Education Department chose the schools.

Overport Secondary won the competition by collecting the most bottles and cans.

In just five weeks in January and February, the pupils collected more than 4,8 million cans and plastic bottles. Those who collected the most bottles and cans won tickets to one of the 64 World Cup games.

Basic Education Deputy Minister Enver Surty welcomed the initiative as an opportunity to promote sustainable development by harnessing the excitement of the first African World Cup and encouraging young people to support recycling and sustainable development from an early age.

Since the ticket fund launch in August 2009, Coca-Cola provided training for Education Department facilitators, who in turn trained 697 teachers. Coca-Cola chose recycling as one of its legacy projects around its partnership with Fifa. The programme also supports Fifa’s “Green Goal” project to heighten awareness and encourage participation in efforts to save the environment.