EEQ | Press Releases / Letters

Press Releases | Letters update 2011-11-30

Recreer.ca: Little efforts go a long way

Montréal, November 30, 2011 - As part of the joint awareness campaign on curbside recycling, Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) and RECYC-QUÉBEC have launched the recreer.ca website to encourage recycling and explain the collective benefits of doing so. The website is the interactive component of the Recycling is remaking awareness campaign and complements the radio and TV ad program that aired from October to mid-November 2011 to demonstrate the positive impact little recycling efforts can make.

Entertaining and educational, the recreer.ca website covers various aspects of materials recovery. In particular, it provides an overview of Quebec's curbside recycling system and how it is financed. We learn, for example, that the rate of recovery through residential curbside collection, a paltry 20.5% in 1999-2000, has shown impressive growth, nearing 65% in 2010. There is still room for improvement, however, to reach the 70% target the government set for 2015 in its new Quebec Residual Materials Management Policy.

The Great Recyclable Game

Quebecers can learn a lot about recycling either by reading the short texts or playing the Great Recyclable Game. After creating a simple user's profile by logging onto the website or from their Facebook account, web surfers are invited to answer questions on recycling and commit to changing some of their habits. Organized by category, Little efforts make it easy to adopt best recycling practices. The information provided includes a brief overview of key players in the curbside recycling issue, a list of containers, packaging and printed matter that may be placed in recycling bins, suggestions for simple things we can do to facilitate sorting centre operations, and urban myths relating to materials recycling are also debunked.

By correctly answering a series of questions on a subject of their choice, web surfers earn Recycle-Labels, which are small badges they may proudly post on their Facebook page. Using their Recycle-Labels, they can remake a virtual world with each badge they've earned by turning them into an item made from recycled materials. For example, the metal recovered from tin cans will create a bus. Finally, by answering the questionnaire, web surfers determine what type of recycler they are.

About Éco Entreprises Québec
Éco Entreprises Québec is a private, non-profit organization that represents companies with regard to their responsibility to finance their share of the net costs of municipal curbside recycling, establishes reasonable fees to ensure program financing and, in partnership with other stakeholders, promotes efforts to increase the quantities of recovered materials through curbside recycling at the lowest possible cost.

About RECYC-QUÉBEC
Concerned with helping Quebecers find innovative ways to sustainably manage residual materials so we may become a waste-free society, RECYC-QUÉBEC encourages reduction at the source, reuse, recycling and recovery of residual materials. RECYC QUÉBEC therefore seeks to influence how products are manufactured and consumed. It is the designated organization for coordinating recovery activities under Quebec's Residual Materials Management Policy.

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Information:

Marie-Andrée Prénoveau
Director, Corporate Affairs, External Relations and Communications
Éco Entreprises Québec
Tel.: 514-987-1491, ext. 225
mprenoveau@ecoentreprises.qc.ca

Nancy Dubé
Communications and Media Relations Adviser
RECYC-QUÉBEC
Tel: 418-643-0394, ext. 3238
Toll free: 1-866-523-8290
n.dube@recyc-quebec.gouv.qc.ca

2011