boxes, including knocking on doors to inform residents; and, Composting with composters provided by Laidlaw, free of charge. The blue box recycling system was proposed to be included as an included “extra” to the regular waste management contract. Laidlaw was successful in obtaining the waste management contract for Kitchener, and the blue box system had its commercial launch. RIS came up with the slogan “We Recycle”, which was applied to every box that went out in Kitchener. Various reasons why the boxes were coloured blue, as opposed to some other colour have been posited: the facts are that RIS felt they looked best and were most visible in blue. It was also a colour that was suitable in terms of withstanding damage from ultraviolet light. The four recycling approaches were monitored by RIS for one year and the blue box was decided as the most effective. The “test project” continued to run however, and people who did not have the blue boxes began requesting them. Laidlaw received many letters from residents expressing support for the program and for it to continue. The blue box program was implemented citywide in 1983, with Laidlaw providing the extra investment in additional boxes and trucks and handling equipment even though it was not required by their waste management contract with the City. Participation rates ran at 85 percent, and the program was regarded as a success. In 1984 the Citywide contract for Kitchener went out to public bid, as previously scheduled. City staff simply followed previous procedures – i.e., no specific requirement to offer recycling services was included in bid documents. Laidlaw chose to submit a bid that included continuation of the blue box service while their competitors, mainly large US-based firms, did not. One such competitor submitted a bid that was about $400,000 lower than the one from Laidlaw. The Council meeting where the decision was made was filled with local citizens, especially students, asking their City to support the blue box. The City did, voting to take the blue box bid, not the low bid. In 1985, Laidlaw won the bid for recycling in the City of Mississauga and introduced the second commercial blue box program in Ontario in June 1986, the largest recycling effort in North America. Between 1997 and 1999, Laidlaw, Inc. exited the solid waste business after incurring heavy losses through its investments in Safety-Kleen and Greyhound Lines. After