ÉEQ ANNOUNCES THE FIRST PHASE OF ITS INNOVATIVE GLASS WORKS PLAN



Tangible and Realistic Solutions for 100% of Glass in Quebec

At the very first Forum on Curbside Recycling Optimization held in January 2015, Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) brought together key actors from the curbside recycling industry in order to rally around one mobilizing vision: to optimize curbside recycling in order to make it the best performing system from an economic, social and environmental standpoint over the coming years.



Conference attendees prioritized concrete actions such as providing the investments needed to modernize certain sorting centres in order to meet the challenges of glass processing.



Since then, ÉEQ has studied various opportunities to meet the objective using a thorough approach that included a needs diagnosis for sorting centres and recommendations on proven and innovative technologies.



A first investment for demonstration projects

ÉEQ is pleased to announce its first $4 million investment with partners in Québec and from abroad to equip several sorting centres with innovative glass processing and cleaning machinery to be tested as part of demonstration projects.



The selected technology has proven its worth abroad in mixed recyclable materials sorting and will be tested in Quebec sorting centres over the next few months.



A request for proposals from Quebec’s 24 sorting centres will be issued in January 2016 with the ultimate objective of implementing an avant-garde solution for recycling 100% of the glass collected in Quebec. ÉEQ plans to deploy other concrete measures over the next few months, including support for market outlets that use glass collected via curbside recycling.



The objective is to implement tangible and realistic solutions for processing 100% of glass in Quebec by following a prudent and step-by-step approach.



This announcement will in no way affect the Schedule of Contributions presented during consultation meetings held in the fall of 2015.



One more step for the environment

As a type of mass transit for recyclable materials, curbside recycling collected 5 million tonnes of recyclable materials and avoided 2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions thanks to companies’ financial contributions over the past 10 years. The modernization of glass processing equipment used by sorting centres will reduce those emissions even further, which is a measure that aligns perfectly with the objectives set out during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21).



Stay tuned: ÉEQ is planning several more announcements in 2016.