Founder
Emmie Leung, Founder and CEO
After immigrating to Canada & completing her Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Manitoba, Emterra Group founder, Emmie Leung, noticed businesses in her Winnipeg neighbourhood unknowingly throwing away a valuable resource – newspaper. Recognizing the opportunity to recycle the newspapers and resell them overseas, she began a small recycling company under the name International Paper Industries (IPI). Due to limited resources, she operated the business as one-person; Emmie was the company truck driver, forklift operator, garbage sorter – everything. This hands-on approach to learning gave her tremendous exposure and insight into all aspects of the company, a knowledge and understanding she continues to use today as CEO of Emterra Group.
From its humble beginnings in 1976, Emmie operated IPI with a vision and personal philosophy: find opportunities in every challenge; and, all things, even “waste,” is a resource. With these guiding principles and her innovative thinking, she invented the Blue Bag system of recycling in the Greater Vancouver area. This idea was born out of limitations and need – since she could not receive sufficient funding for a Blue Box program, the concept of a lower cost recycling system was conceived. Innovations such as this, have allowed her to become a recognized industry pioneer and leader in waste diversion and management in Canada.
Over the last 30 years, IPI grew substantially under Emmie’s direction and vision. After expanding the company to 11 facilities across B.C and Manitoba, she formed Halton Recycling Ltd. (HRL) in 1995; this second company offered solid waste and recycling collection and processing services in Ontario, and has now grown into 3 locations.
In 2003, HRL acquired an organics processing plant with state-of-the-art technology to produce high-quality compost and methane gas; these are converted further into electricity to fuel the plant, while any excess is sold back to the power grid. Later in the year, a liquid recycling plant was acquired with the ability to transform liquid waste such as juice and alcohol into ethanol. These two companies – HRL Newmarket Organics Facility and Canadian Liquids Processors Limited. – exemplify again, Emmie’s resourcefulness and discerning ability to see the value in everything, even waste.
Two years later, Emmie purchased the assets of a fledgling tire recycling company in Ontario. Today, Emterra Tire Recycling is one of only 3 tire recycling companies in Canada that recover and convert scrap tires into reusable materials without burning them.
Under Emmie’s leadership, Emterra Group has grown from a one-person operation to a company with over 500 staff and annual sales of $75 million. Having risen to the challenges over the years, Emmie has been recognized with many awards, including the “Canada Award for Excellence” by Industry Canada and National Quality Institute in Entrepreneurship; under her leadership, IPI was twice recipient for the Financial Post’s “Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies.” By continually practicing her vision and philosophy in all areas of her life, Emmie takes pride in knowing that her achievements positively affect the communities in which she works and lives in.