Finalist in “Spirit of Winnipeg” Awards for Innovative Excellence

Finalist in “Spirit of Winnipeg” Awards for Innovative Excellence

January 22, 2013

Emterra Finalist in Chamber of Commerce “Spirit of Winnipeg” Awards for Innovative Excellence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINNIPEG, MB (January 22, 2013)—Emterra Group’s unique corporate culture of seizing opportunities and using innovation to drive economic and environmental objectives has won the organization prestigious recognition as a finalist in the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s 4th Annual “Spirit of Winnipeg” awards.

The Chamber announced the finalists in six categories at its “Spirit of Winnipeg” luncheon today. The individual finalists will be celebrated at a gala event that takes place at the Fairmount Winnipeg on March 1.

Emterra’s “recycling first” mission and waste-to-resource business model set the tone for its winning submission in the large business category. The submission describes how Emterra’s three divisions - Emterra Environmental, Emterra Tire Recycling,  and Canadian Liquids Processors Limited  – strive to find new, economically viable and environmentally progressive ways to manage waste, always with the goal of reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfill and aiming for ‘zero waste.’ Coupled with this guiding principle is Emterra’s strong commitment not only to find ways to “recycle more”, but also to “recycle better.”

Recycling better includes initiatives such as Emterra’s bold step to launch its new recycling, waste and yard waste contract with the City of Winnipeg using close to 60 state-of-the art natural-gas fuelled collection trucks.   This is the largest return-to-base refuse fleet project in Canada and the largest cold weather operation of a compressed natural gas (CNG) refuse truck fleet in the world. While requiring significantly more investment, the use of the trucks will allow Emterra to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Winnipeg by 5,000 tonnes over the next five years. Together with an upgrade of its recyclable materials recovery facility (MRF), Emterra’s investment in Winnipeg in the past year has topped $23 million.

“Being open to opportunities and constantly looking for ways to innovate in our industry has put Emterra at the forefront of integrated waste/resource management companies in Canada,” said Emterra CEO Emmie Leung. She pointed out that that Emterra provides waste and recycling services to more the 80 communities in three provinces, representing 10% of the Canadian population.

In addition, Emterra’s recycling collection operations across Canada feed into its 12 MRFs which process and market the recyclables collected at the curb. Seventy percent of these recyclables are shipped to markets in North America which further invests in and strengthens domestic sustainability. Emterra is the only Canadian waste management company that operates three, and soon to be four, single stream recycling MRFs: Burlington, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Surrey, BC.  These operations provide jobs for more than 800 Canadians.

This summer, Emterra will commission a new, state-of-the-art single stream MRF to be located at the Global Transportation Hub in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Emterra’s drive for innovation and its indomitable entrepreneurial spirit have been the impetus for its steady development and growth over its 35-year history from a one-person enterprise when Leung started her first company, International Papers Industries, to collect cardboard on Vancouver back alleys to a multi-million dollar conglomerate.

“We are immensely proud to be recognized for our innovation and entrepreneurial spirit by our peers in Winnipeg. It is an honour and a privilege to selected as a finalist in the Spirit of Winnipeg awards,” Leung said.