Environmentally-Friendly Recycling Services Coming to BC’s Capital Regional District

Environmentally-Friendly Recycling Services Coming to BC’s Capital Regional District

April 20, 2015

Victoria, BC (April 20, 2015) – Emterra Environmental, a Canadian leader in recycling resources management and waste diversion, has been awarded its second consecutive contract with British Columbia’s Capital Regional District (CRD) to provide recycling collection services to 124,000 homes in 13 municipalities including Colwood, Esquimalt, Highlands, Langford, Metchosin, Oak Bay, Saanich, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney, Sooke, Victoria and View Royal, as well as the Juan de Fuca electoral area.  

Emterra won the first blue box recycling collection contact with the CRD in 2005. The new, multi-year agreement, which Emterra won in an open RFP process, begins in May. As part of separate contracts with the CRD, Emterra also provides hauling services for the Hartland Landfill and Port Renfrew Transfer Station and assists the CRD with the transportation and processing of kitchen scraps.

The new contract comes with added value. In keeping with Emterra’s commitment to contribute to greener communities, by the end of 2015, Emterra will unveil a new fleet of environmentally-friendly, compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to collect CRD recyclables.

CNG trucks reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 per cent and operate at reduced engine sound, significantly lowering noise pollution, which can be a nuisance to residents and businesses. The noise from one idling diesel truck is comparable to the noise from 10 idling natural gas trucks[1].

Currently, Emterra uses CNG trucks in Metro Vancouver, BC, and Winnipeg, Manitoba and plans to expand its CNG fleet later this year throughout British Columbia and Ontario. By the end of 2015, Emterra will have more than 200 recycling, organics, and waste collection CNG trucks operating throughout Canada. The 60-vehicle CNG fleet in Winnipeg is the largest in the world operating in an extreme cold weather climate.

“Emterra is also building a state-of-the-art CNG fuelling station in CRD for its fleet as well as third party fleet operators/owners in the region allowing them to realize the cost savings and environmental benefits of CNG fuel without having to invest millions of dollars in their own fuelling infrastructure,” noted Ed Walsh, Emterra’s Vice President of Operations. The CNG fuelling station is expected to be fully functional by this summer.

“Emterra and the CRD have a long history of working as partners to divert recyclable resources from disposal in landfill to end markets so they can be remanufactured into new recycled-content products. Through this new Emterra-led initiative to convert our fleet in the CRD to greener CNG trucks, we’ll contribute to cleaner air and a healthier environment in the CRD’s communities,” Walsh said.

Russ Smith, senior manager of the CRD’s Environmental Resource Management commented, “Residents throughout Greater Victoria strongly support initiatives that improve our natural environment. The CRD is pleased that this newly minted and renewed partnership with Emterra will see cleaner burning CNG recycling collection trucks on our streets by the end of the year. A greener fleet of collection trucks fits well with the CRD’s sustainability goals by helping to reduce corporate and community greenhouse gas emissions.”

The new trucks will sport another feature which make them unique to the CRD. Each truck will be equipped with three collection compartments; one for paper recyclables, one for non-glass container recyclables and the third is designed specifically for recyclable glass bottles and jars.

About Emterra Group

Emterra Group is a Canadian leader in waste resources management. A family owned and operated company, it comprises four divisions offering municipal and industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) customers with a fully integrated approach to collecting, processing and marketing waste, recyclables, organic waste, used tires, and more. Emterra has operations in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Michigan, USA, and annually ships about 500,000 tonnes of recyclables to end-markets to be re-manufactured into new products. Driven by its mandate to increase the sustainability of its operations, Emterra is one of Canada’s most progressive users of alternative green fleet technologies in the waste management industry and consistently deploys the latest green technologies to truly “walk the talk”, including using CNG vehicles and fuelling stations and operating optical sorting equipment in its recycling plants.  

 

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Contact:

Paulina Leung
VP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development
Emterra Group
905.336.9084, ext. 130
Paulina.Leung@emterra.ca