COLUMN: Carillon Flashback July 20, 1998 – First ‘EcoCentre’ opens in Steinbach

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This article was published 23/09/2025 (184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Television cameras whirred and shutters snapped as Manitoba Environment Minister Jim McRae and Steinbach Mayor Les Magnusson officially opened rural Manitoba’s first used oil recycling centre.

Hailed by both government and industry as the answer to a longstanding problem, the ‘EcoCentre’ will serve as a regional collection point for used oil, oil filters and oil containers.

The EcoCentre, located at the Steinbach landfill site, was built at a cost of $25,000, shared equally between Steinbach and the Manitoba Association for Resource Recovery Corp. (MARRC), a non-profit organization.

McRae, emphasizing the importance of the EcoCentre, noted oil contamination harms the soil, waterways and can disrupt the operation of community sewage treatment systems.

Mayor Magnusson said Steinbach was proud to be the first EcoCentre and encouraged residents of the community and surrounding region to use the new facility.

He pointed out people from the community have long expressed a concern over disposal of waste oil, filters and oil containers.

Similar centres are opening in Altona, Carman and Melita, with 10 additional facilities set to be located within the year and a further 18 within the next two years.

Ron Benson, a former oil company manager who heads MARRC, told the small group of municipal and environment officials at Tuesday’s official opening, that a litre of oil can contaminate a million litres of soil.

He noted that while some 30 million litres of oil are sold annually in Manitoba, only about six million litres are presently being recovered. At the same time, relatively few of the millions of oil filters sold annually are retrieved.

He explained while it has been uneconomic to recover waste oil and related products from rural areas in the past, but a new levy agreed to by the industry and retailers is now financing the collection of these recyclable materials.

Some retailers post the recycling and collection levy on oil at points of sale, while others do not.

Steinbach’s EcoCentre is a prefabricated concrete building at the landfill site, housing a 4,500-litre collection tank. There are also special containers to hold filters and oil containers.

A city employee working at the landfill site has been trained to operate the EcoCentre at the same time.

Steinbach public works supervisor Randy Reimer said the EcoCentre can accept used oil in quantities of up to 500 litres.

It is expected the EcoCentre will be used extensively by individuals and farmers who perform their own oil changes on vehicles and machinery. Paints and solvents are not accepted at the collection depot, officials noted.

Major commercial operators using larger quantities of oil, such as service stations and automobile and farm machinery dealerships, already have a collection system in place.

Benson noted that since the Association for Resource Recovery Corporation began its used oil recovery program in March, nearly 2.1 million litres have been collected. During Manitoba the same period, more than 211,000 oil filters were recovered, a number far exceeding the organization’s expectations.

MARCC was formed in April last year by manufacturers and marketers of oil products. It is managed by a board of directors made up of industry and public representatives.

The board includes Steinbach Canadian Tire proprietor Gary Manks, who represents the national chain’s outlets throughout the province.

– with files from Peter Dyck