'Rewards for Recycling' kicks off in Canadian Tire Stores across the province

    
    Canadian Tire and the Ontario Power Authority reward Ontarians for the
    retirement of their used air conditioners, dehumidifiers and halogen
    floor lamps
    

TORONTO , Oct. 16 /CNW/ - As a result of last year's successful program and its ongoing commitment to the environment, Canadian Tire along with support from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and participating electric utilities, is rewarding Ontarians for recycling their used room air conditioners, dehumidifiers and halogen lamps. The Rewards for Recycling program takes place at Canadian Tire stores across Ontario the weekends of October 17th and 18th and October 24th and 25th. Residents who return a used room air conditioning unit or dehumidifier will receive a $25 gift card, while those returning a halogen floor lamp will be rewarded with a $10 gift card.

Last year almost 30,000 inefficient room air conditioners, dehumidifiers and halogen lamps were collected at Canadian Tire stores across Ontario.

"Canadian Tire is committed to helping the environment and is excited to be working with the OPA and participating electric utilities for a second year on the Rewards for Recycling program," says Reg McLay, senior vice president, marketing and business development, Canadian Tire Retail. "We are always looking for ways in which to provide our customers with eco-friendly products and services and are pleased to reward Ontario customers for their own environmental efforts."

"We are fortunate to have partners such as Canadian Tire, which recognize the importance of conservation and energy efficiency," says Paul Shervill, vice-president of conservation for the Ontario Power Authority. "The lifetime energy saving generated from this campaign - approximately 141 million kilowatt-hours - represents enough electricity to power a city the size of Stratford, Ontario for an entire year. Efforts like this will help Ontario continue to develop its culture of conservation."

The Rewards for Recycling program takes place at more than 200 Canadian Tire stores across Ontario. Store locations and business hours can be obtained by visiting canadiantire.ca.

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC), operates more than 1,200 general merchandise and apparel retail stores and gas stations in an inter-related network of businesses engaged in retail, financial services and petroleum. Canadian Tire Retail, Canada's most shopped general merchandise retailer, with 475 stores operated by dealers across Canada offers a unique mix of products and services through three specialty categories in which the organization is the market leader - Automotive, Sports and Leisure, and Home Products. www.canadiantire.ca offers Canadians the opportunity to research more than 25,000 products online. PartSource is an automotive parts specialty chain with 86 stores designed to meet the needs of purchasers of automotive parts - professional automotive installers and serious do-it-yourselfers. Canadian Tire Petroleum is one of the country's largest and most productive independent retailers of gasoline, operating 273 gas bars, 267 convenience stores and kiosks, and 73 car washes. Mark's Work Wearhouse is one of the country's leading apparel retailers operating 372 stores in Canada . Under the Clothes that Work(TM) marketing strategy, Mark's sells apparel and footwear in work, work-related, casual and active-wear categories, as well as health-care and business-to-business apparel. www.marks.com offers Canadians the opportunity to shop for Mark's products online. Canadian Tire Financial Services has issued over 5 million Canadian Tire MasterCards and also markets related financial products and services for retail and petroleum customers. Canadians can also access Financial Services online at www.ctfs.com. Over 57,000 Canadians work across Canadian Tire's organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail, financial services, and petroleum businesses.

The Ontario Power Authority is responsible for ensuring a reliable, sustainable supply of electricity for Ontario. Its four key areas of focus are: planning the power system for the long term, leading and co-ordinating conservation initiatives across the province, ensuring development of needed generation resources and supporting the continued commercial evolution of the electricity sector. For more information on the OPA programs, please visit www.everykilowattcounts.com

For further information: Joanne Elson, Canadian Tire, [phone]