News Release - All Manitoba Media - October 21, 2003

New website offers one-stop service for waste reduction information

Need information on household recycling, composting, used oil or used tires? Want to know about household hazardous waste, electronics recycling, or how recycling saves energy and helps slow climate change?

Manitobans now have access to a new website providing information at-a-click on a wide variety of waste reduction and resource conservation topics. The site -- www.mb.reducingwaste.ca -- is a service of Resource Conservation Manitoba. It was launched during Waste Reduction Week 2003, a national effort to reduce waste, increase recycling and encourage environmentally friendly behaviour.

The new website features a host of information for residential, commercial and industrial sectors in the province and includes:

• Detailed information about waste reduction programs in communities across Manitoba
• Comprehensive household recycling, used tire, used oil, composting and hazardous waste information
• Education materials for students and teachers
• Waste reduction news and event information.

Resource Conservation Manitoba (RCM) has been helping to keep Manitobans informed about waste reduction for almost twenty years. RCM is pleased to present its new web service as a comprehensive source of waste reduction information in the province. The website is a joint effort by RCM, the Manitoba Product Stewardship Corporation, the Tire Stewardship Board, and the Manitoba Association for Resource Recovery Corporation. Development of the website was made possible through funding from the Waste Reduction and Pollution Prevention Fund of Manitoba Conservation.

ì"Many different organizations worked together to create a central website where Manitobans can find what they need to know about recycling and waste reduction," said Randall McQuaker, executive director of RCM. The site was developed for RCM by a local company, Emerge Knowledge Design.

"We've worked to make the website as user-friendly as possible. We know Manitobans want to reduce waste and we hope this website will provide another resource they can use," said Andrea Swain, who coordinated the development of the site for Emerge.

Manitobans have continued to demonstrate their commitment to waste reduction:

• Since 1996, Manitobans have recycled over 276,000 tonnes of material - that is more than 39,000 garbage trucks full of recyclables.
• Manitobans have recycled over 7.5 million tires since 1995.
• There are 48 Ecocentres across Manitoba which have provided a safe way to recycle some 57.5 million litres of used oil, 6.82 million oil filters, and 617, 000 kg of oil containers.