February, 2013

Dear Friends,

Now that we’ve started down the 2013 path, we can’t help but look over our shoulders at some of the highlights that made 2012 stand out.  The year was, in so many ways, remarkable. For one thing, it marked our – my – 35th anniversary since creating International Papers Industries, the forerunner of Halton Recycling Inc. and now Emterra Group.

Throughout our family of companies, we celebrated our anniversary with jubilation. 2012 was a watershed year in other respects. We stretched and grew in many ways, and at the same time, we made a stronger effort to be more in tune with, and involved in the communities in which we live and work. It is on that foundation that we’ll be building our business and corporate responsibility throughout 2013. 

This Emterra e-newsletter is one of the ways we plan to share news with our family of friends. We hope you enjoy it.

Emmie Leung, CEO
Emterra Group

We are very excited that Emterra Group is adding Saskatchewan to the portfolio of provinces in which we operate. In November, we broke ground in the Global Transportation Hub area of west Regina as the location where we are building the latest addition to our MRF family. With an investment of $18 million, the Emterra Regina MRF will be a world-class, LEEDs-inspired facility that will serve the City of Regina and surrounding communities’ residential and industrial-commercial-institutional sectors. Read more...

Emterra is now international. In the fall of 2012, Emterra Group established Emterra Environmental USA which acquired the majority of the assets of Richfield Management consisting of waste and recycling collection contracts for more than 50 communities and numerous businesses in Flint, Bad Axe, and Port Huron, Michigan.  As well, an affiliated company acquired and will operate a landfill that has been renamed Huron Landfill Corporation. Read more...

The Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO) bestowed one of its highest Waste Minimization Awards – a platinum – on Emterra Environmental for its original and innovative Make Your Contribution at the Curb!TM program which directly links increases in residential recycling to our pledge to donate as much as $500,000 over seven years to a Niagara Region cancer treatment facility. We were honoured to receive the award jointly with our customer, the Region of Niagara. Read more...

Emterra Group is honoured to be named a finalist in the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s 4th Annual “Spirit of Winnipeg” awards.  Our innovative “recycling first” mission and waste-to-resource business model set the tone for our winning submission in the large business category. The winners announced at a gala event that takes place at the Fairmount Winnipeg on March 1. Read more…

Ninety-six percent of Winnipegers are “satisfied” with Emterra Environmental’s garbage and recycling collection service, according to public opinion research expert, Greg Mason. He added that the rating was “pretty good -- I think most people would see that as an acceptable score.” Read more…

When it comes to material recycling facilities (MRFs), Emterra’s mantra is “resources in – resources out.” To ensure that Emterra Environmental’s single stream and multi stream MRFs across Canada continue to produce the best quality recycled product at the lowest cost for customers, many of the Emterra facilities are undergoing significant equipment upgrades, including the one in Winnipeg. It caught the eye of Solid Waste and Recycling magazine which featured it, to our delight, as the cover story, The ‘Dream’ Recycling Plant in the October/November issue. Read more…

Canadian Liquids Processors Limited (CLP) has been recycling millions of litres of waste off-specification and stale-dated consumer beverage products into industry-grade ethanol for years. But one day CLP got really creative. Why not turn the ethanol made from waste liquids into a non-toxic, environmentally-friendly windshield washer fluid that actually closes the sustainability loop for the manufacturers who use CLP’s liquid waste disposal services. Read more...

Emterra created our Community Care™ program to work with partner organizations to find innovative, imaginative ways to contribute to healthier, more sustainable communities. These projects take many shapes and sizes such as helping to collect non-perishable food for food banks to volunteering to help distribute reconditioned bicycles recovered from landfill to youth organizations that make sure they get to less fortunate kids for Christmas. Read more…