Last week, bright magenta-coloured recycling bins, adorned by images from professional Canadian, American and British photographers, began appearing in high-traffic spots in Toronto’s financial district.
Their purpose is to promote art and recycling while beautifying city streets, explains Erich Genseberger, CEO of EcoMedia Direct – which recently won a multi-year contract to supply recycling bins to the City of Toronto.
Toronto-based EcoMedia Direct owns and operates more than 3,600 ‘SilverBox’ recycling bins deployed across Toronto and Markham, Ont., and bills itself as the biggest such supplier in the world. For the new beautiful bins program, EcoMedia partnered with Martinrea International, a Vaughn, Ont.-based producer of metal-based products.
‘This initiative clearly establishes that we are not just an ordinary outdoor media company,’ says Genseberger. ‘We are focused on environmental protection as well as providing an essential service to the City of Toronto and its citizens.’ He added that co-sponsoring the attractive recycling bins for the next four months is a signal that his company ‘is taking its multi-year agreement with the City of Toronto very seriously.’
Adds Martinrea chairman Rob Wildeboer, ‘We certainly hope that, by taking a leadership role in the street art recycling bin program to beautify our streets and protect the environment, we will serve as an example for other large corporations to follow.’
