Company History Highlights

In the late 1970’s the Metauro brothers, Albino and Anthony, start a small hauling company collecting material from all over the Toronto, ON area. It isn’t long before the brothers start to realize the true benefit and value of recovering OCC (old corrugated cardboard) from industrial garbage.

Growth continues throughout the 1980’s and into the 1990’s:

• In the early 1980’s the Metauro brothers acquire a small bankrupt recycling business and set up shop. As this is the first official processing facility for the brothers, a decision is made to keep the hauling division separate and ‘METRO Waste Paper Recovery Inc.’ is formally born.
• A full ‘Office Towers Paper Recovery Program’ is developed and implemented. The success of this co-mingled OPF (office paper fibre) program results in METRO opening a facility, ‘City Forest Fibre Inc.’, to handle OPF sorting. ‘The City is Our Forest’ becomes the inaugural tagline for METRO to promote this successful recovery program.

Significant changes occur with METRO during the 1990’s:

• Evolves into a more comprehensive ‘recycling and waste solutions’ service provider expanding its materials recovery in different sectors by capturing additional recyclable materials including wood waste, plastics and metals.
• Opens new processing facility, ‘Waste Recycling (Ottawa/Hull) Inc.’ (WRI), in Ottawa, ON. This is the first introduction and involvement for METRO with municipal recycling.
• Creates a new department called ‘Fibre Management Group’ as an internal marketing arm to deal the increased volumes of recovered paper fibre.

• Becomes affiliated with Cascades Inc. as a subsidiary, the largest Canadian producer of boxboard for the manufacturing of folding cartons. This relationship results in a direct link to major end markets, giving the mill group a consistent local supply of paper fibre.
• Awarded its first major municipal contract with the City of North York, ON.
• Completes its first acquisition of a medium-sized competitor in the Toronto, ON.
• Awarded the City of Ottawa, ON municipal contract to process all the curbside paper. WRI moves into a 50,000 square foot processing facility and installs the latest star screen technology.

METRO continues its consistent growth pattern between 2000 and the present day:

• Purchases the Cascades-Ottawa Recovery Division.
• Awarded the contract for the Federal Government PaperSave Recycling Program in Ottawa, ON.
• A series of acquisitions in New York State, U.S. and Western Canada including the Norampac Recovery facilities and the purchase of ETL, resulting in METRO becoming one of the largest processors in North America, handling over 1 million metric tonnes of recyclable materials annually.
• Purchases the Sonoco Ottawa operation, gaining a second processing facility in Ottawa, ON.
• Awarded the contract to process and market all of the containers from the Blue box program for the City of Ottawa, ON As a result, METRO adds a 30,000 square foot addition to its facility and installs the latest container sorting equipment, including the first optical sorting system in Canada.
• Awarded the largest single stream contract in Canada from the City of Toronto, ON and builds one of the largest volume and most modern processing facilities in North America. This flagship facility boasts the most current technology and is capable of processing up to 900 metric tonnes of materials per day.
• Awarded for the third consecutive time, the contract for the processing and marketing of the recyclable materials for the CRD (Capitol Regional District), Victoria, B.C. municipal Blue box and Blue bag curbside program. The facility is upgraded to increase capacity by installing the most modern equipment.
• Awarded the Durham Region, ON municipal contract to process and market municipal materials. To accommodate this contract, METRO commences the building of a new $17 million recycling facility. This new ‘design, build, and operate’ greenfield facility will have the capacity to process 115,000 tonnes a year.
• Expands its operations in the U.S. by opening up a processing facility designed to handle IC&I and municipal recycling in Albany, New York, U.S.
• Awarded the 10-year contract for the processing and marketing of recycled materials for the municipal curbside program for the City of Calgary, AB. As a second greenfiled project, starts the ‘design, build and operate’ phase of the new facility.
• Installs the first-ever optical sorting equipment for paper generated by the single stream collection at its Thornmount, ON facility. This signifies METRO’s commitment to maintaining internal quality, keeping up with current innovations and applying the most state of the art technology.

• Introduces the collection of electronic waste materials (e-waste), through its purchase of eTegrity Solutions, further enhancing the concept of a ‘complete recycling solutions provider’.

Today

METRO currently diverts over 1.5 million tonnes of recyclable materials from landfills every year across North America. With 18 recovery facilities in 14 marketplaces across Canada and the United States, METRO continues to grow and expand into new marketplaces, applying the most modern state of the art equipment, technology and processes available.

Recognizing opportunities for growth and expansion, METRO has grown to over 850 employees and has a multi-million dollar fleet that is steadily expanding. Recognized as trailblazers in the industry, the founders, Albino and Anthony Metauro, are still passionately involved in all aspects of the company, ensuring their vision remains an integral part of the company’s growth.