WBE Canada’s community includes nearly 700 certified Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) across Canada, representing a broad range of industries and business sizes—from solo entrepreneurs to organizations employing more than 1,000 people. These businesses offer the expertise, capacity and experience to compete for contracts of all sizes across both the public and private sectors.
For corporations and government entities, supplier diversity is an opportunity to strengthen local economic development, encourage competition, build supply chain resilience and ensure public spending creates opportunities for a broader range of businesses, including women-owned enterprises.
Newly awarded municipal waste collection contracts for the City of Mississauga and the City of Brampton/Caledon, Ontario, illustrate how certified women-owned businesses can compete for and are awarded large public contracts while delivering essential services at scale.
A Major Municipal Contract with a Canadian Women-Owned Business
In October 2027, the Cities of Mississauga and Brampton are scheduled to assume responsibility for local waste collection services from the Region of Peel. Following a competitive procurement process, Emterra Environmental—a WBE Canada-certified women-owned business since 2017—was awarded the two contracts.
The contracts encompass both curbside residential and multi-residential waste collection although service levels differ slightly between Mississauga and Brampton. In Mississauga, Emterra will collect recycling at select locations such as City facilities, recreation centres and places of worship. Residential recycling is not part of the contract as Circular Materials has managed it since January 1, 2026.
Founded in 1976, Emterra Environmental is a Canadian recycling and resource-recovery company and part of the family-owned Emterra Group. Its integrated services include curbside collection, hauling, material recovery, organics management, and the processing and marketing of recovered materials. Today, Emterra operates within a network spanning more than 40 recycling and waste-diversion facilities across Canada and Michigan, serving municipalities, businesses, institutions and communities. Their scale and scope highlight the capacity of an established women-owned business to compete for and deliver complex municipal services.
A Legacy of Innovation and Resourcefulness
At the heart of Emterra’s story is founder and CEO Emmie Leung, whose entrepreneurial journey began with a simple observation: discarded cardboard and paper were valuable resources waiting to be recovered.
After moving to Vancouver, Leung founded International Paper Industries in 1976, initially operating the business herself. Her early work helped advance innovative recycling practices, including an early “blue bag” collection program, laying the groundwork for Emterra’s growth into an established Canadian recycling and resource-recovery organization.
As Emterra celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, the company remains focused on strengthening Canada’s circular economy and investing in the infrastructure, technology and talent needed to respond to evolving producer responsibility requirements.
Its ongoing modernization efforts include automation, clean technology, advanced material recovery systems and investments designed to improve safety, quality and service. Emterra is also pursuing practical, commercially viable solutions for materials that are difficult to reuse or recycle—helping keep more resources in circulation and advance a more sustainable economy.
Supplier Diversity in Practice
For Mississauga and Brampton, preparing to assume responsibility for local waste collection requires a qualified service provider capable of supporting a seamless transition while delivering reliable, efficient and environmentally responsible services.
As WBE Canada corporate members, both cities are committed to advancing supplier diversity and inclusive procurement. Emterra’s successful bid demonstrates that a certified women-owned business can compete through a competitive procurement process while contributing to municipal service delivery and sustainability priorities.
The broader lesson is important for public- and private-sector procurement leaders: diverse-owned businesses are not simply an emerging source of potential suppliers. Many are established organizations with the operational capacity, industry expertise and proven track records to deliver complex contracts at scale.
As Jodi Houston, Advisor, Sustainable Procurement at the City of Brampton, explains:
“Supplier diversity doesn’t have to mean more complex procurement processes, higher costs, or compromising on quality or requirements. Diverse businesses exist across the market with the capabilities and capacity to deliver everything from smaller purchases to highly complex projects. For corporate members, a practical first step is understanding who is already in the market and identifying opportunities to broaden supplier diversity.”
This perspective reinforces a key principle of inclusive procurement: supplier diversity can be integrated into existing procurement practices, broadening market awareness and providing WBEs with meaningful opportunities to compete.
Why WBE Certification Continues to Matter
With more than 1,300 employees, Emterra Environmental demonstrates that a business can grow to significant scale while continuing to value its WBE Canada certification.
For Emterra, certification extends beyond recognition. It creates opportunities to build relationships, exchange knowledge and participate in conversations about inclusive procurement. These connections can help women entrepreneurs navigate persistent challenges related to access, capital visibility and established business networks.
As the company explains:
“Certification creates opportunities for the Emterra Team to build relationships, exchange knowledge and participate in conversations about inclusive procurement. Those connections matter. Women entrepreneurs often face common challenges related to access, capital visibility and established networks. Certification helps bring those businesses into the room and gives them the opportunity to compete. For Emterra’s employees, it is a source of pride and a reminder that diversity at Emterra is not a program or a target. It has been part of our story and our way of doing business from the beginning.”
Emterra’s experience illustrates the value of certification at every stage of business growth. It can help create visibility, foster connections and reinforce a commitment to an inclusive business ecosystem—even for established companies with substantial operational capabilities.
Advice for the Next Generation of Women Entrepreneurs
Over five decades, Emmie Leung and the Emterra team have built a business grounded in resilience, innovation and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking. Her advice to women entrepreneurs starting out—particularly in an uncertain economic environment—is to remain confident in their abilities and focused on the value they bring to the marketplace.
Leung shares:
“Do not let someone else’s assumption define what you are capable of achieving. Another person’s perception of you does not determine your value or your potential. What matters is how you show up, how clearly you can articulate your value or your potential. Stay curious, work hard, know your value and remember that resilience is not about never experiencing setbacks. It is about rising again each time you fall.”
Looking ahead, Leung’s vision for Emterra remains rooted in finding practical, commercially viable ways to recover and reuse materials that might otherwise be wasted. Advances in material science, technology and collaboration offer opportunities to keep more resources in circulation and move recovered materials into higher-value applications.
Equally important is her commitment to preserving the company’s independent, entrepreneurial spirit and its willingness to do things differently.
“As we celebrate our first 50 years, our responsibility is to leave the business, the industry and the communities we serve stronger for the generations that follow.”
— Emmie Leung, Founder and CEO, Emterra Environmental
A Stronger Canadian Supplier Diversity Ecosystem
Emterra’s success in being awarded Mississauga and Brampton’s contracts demonstrates that women-owned businesses can bring established expertise, operational capacity and innovative approaches to the delivery of essential public services.
For municipalities and corporations seeking to advance their supplier diversity commitments, the opportunity begins with recognizing the capabilities already present in the Canadian marketplace and ensuring that qualified diverse suppliers can compete for meaningful business opportunities.
Andrea McLeod, Sustainable Procurement Consultant at the City of Mississauga, notes:
“Mississauga’s waste collection contract was awarded through our standard competitive procurement process. Supplier diversity works best when it’s part of how we plan and go to market, not a separate process. Our role is to make sure qualified businesses of every size and ownership type know about our opportunities and can compete for them.”
WBE Canada’s mission is to build and grow a strong Canadian ecosystem that connects women-owned businesses to procurement opportunities through advocacy, certification, development and promotion, while helping corporations and governments deliver on their supplier diversity commitments.
Stories like Emterra’s demonstrate why this work matters. Across Canada, women entrepreneurs are building resilient, competitive businesses that contribute to economic growth, innovation and stronger communities. When procurement processes recognize and create opportunities for these businesses, the benefits extend beyond individual contracts to the broader Canadian economy.
The opportunity is not simply to include more diverse suppliers. It is to recognize their capabilities; strengthen their access to markets and ensure they have a meaningful place in Canada’s economic future.
