3M Canada's Graphics Get a New Assignment After the 2010 Winter Games as Flooring

LONDON, Ont. – February 18, 2010 – 3M Canada Company today announced that graphics (building and vehicle wrap graphics) supplied by 3M Canada for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) will be reclaimed and recycled after the Games, diverting approximately 200,000 square feet of material from Canadian landfill sites.

“3M’s graphics will create a dramatic visual impact at the 2010 Winter Games, and our post-Games initiative with Mannington, a leading flooring manufacturer, will help limit our environmental impact after the Games end,” said Richard Chartrand, vice-president, display and graphics business, 3M Canada. “3M considers this recycling program a significant step in the right direction for creating a positive environmental shift in the graphics industry.”

Recycling the colourful, sticky and irregularly shaped graphic material presented challenges. Through its extensive network of manufacturers and recyclers, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association introduced 3M Canada to Mannington. Leveraging its experience in repurposing various building materials into hard surface flooring, Mannington developed the first known way of recycling post-use adhesive-backed graphic materials.

“One of the simplest ways to conserve resources is to reuse what you can. Many other materials have found second lives as flooring products through Mannington’s unique process and we’re thrilled they can accommodate the graphics produced by 3M Canada," said Chartrand. “This arrangement was not only a great way to support the environmental efforts of 3M Canada in its role as the Official Supplier of Large Format Graphics to the 2010 Winter Games; it also made very good business sense.”

When the graphics, essentially large stickers, are removed from VANOC vehicles and key Vancouver 2010 venues such as the Richmond Olympic Oval and the Pacific Coliseum, they will be consolidated and then shipped to Mannington’s manufacturing facility. Since the graphic materials share chemistry with raw materials used in the manufacturing process, the materials will become a key ingredient in a mixture used to make high recycled content flooring.

To learn more, please visit www.3m.ca/2010.

About 3M Canada Company
Established in 1951, 3M Canada Company was one of the first international subsidiaries opened by 3M and remains one of the largest. 3M Canada's head office and original manufacturing site is in London, Ontario where approximately half of the company's 1,800 employees work. Other Ontario plants are located in Toronto, Brockville, and Perth with one in Morden, Manitoba. Sales offices are located in major cities nationwide and a national service network supports customers.

For further information:
Jacqui Newell
Public Relations Coordinator
3M Canada
(519) 451-2500 ext. 2564
jnewell@mmm.com