MenuMaking Plastics Work Harder™
What if all plastics were recycled? Today, less than 10% are. What happens to the other 90%? They go to a landfill or incinerator, or worse, they pollute our environment. Now imagine if plastics were infinitely recycled, or inficycled™. At Alterra, that’s exactly what we do.
How We Do It
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We convert post-use plastics destined for landfills back into their original components to produce new plastics and other valuable products.
We developed and currently operate our patented thermochemical liquefaction process technology at our commercial-scale, continuous plant in Ohio. This process uses heat in the absence of oxygen (no combustion) to break down plastics (long chain hydrocarbons) into their original building blocks (small chain hydrocarbons). This minimizes the reliance on fossil fuels (oil) for the manufacturing of new plastic products. It’s what we call Infinitely Renewed Plastics™, and we license this technology globally to help solve the world’s plastic pollution challenge.
We Work Hand-in-Hand With Our Partners
Across the Recycling & Sustainability Spectrum
Plastic Circularity
Working with waste management and recycling companies to create value from discarded plastics.
Global Reach
Partnering with leading energy companies, governments, and investors who share our mission to scale recycling globally.
Circular Products
Collaborating with brand owners and consumers to bridge the gap of sustainable packaging.
Continuous Operation
A continuously fed reactor will convert more discarded plastic at a greater efficiency than a batch process because it reduces the footprint while increasing rate, duration, and volumetric capacity. It also removes operational downtime such as repetitive loading, cleaning, or reactor charging. And it provides superior control and automation of the process.
Sheldon Cotts Ph.D.
Senior Engineer
Efficient Sustainability
Our technology focuses on minimizing energy usage and waste to effectively renew discarded plastics back into a resource to make new plastics. We provide value for the litter that you may pick up when on a walk; helping to keep your neighborhood, local waterways, and parks beautiful.
Maria Belicak
Process Engineer
Industrial Scale
Our design allows for modularization and that coupled with our experience operating a full-scale facility is a key differentiator to meeting the large demand in the marketplace for circular plastics.
Ian Brophy
Process Engineer
Discarded Plastics
Processing a wide variety of plastic that consumers put in their trash cans is one of the pillars of our technology. I believe that as our recycling technology becomes more widespread people won’t need to remember to recycle, but rather it will be second nature.
Ron Simpson
Process Engineer
Our Plant
Patented Technology –
Proven Day In, Day Out
Commissioned in 2020, Alterra’s 60-ton-per-day plastic circularity facility in Akron, Ohio is the only full-scale, continuous plant of its kind. Our plant has successfully recycled millions of pounds of discarded plastic, and that number is growing every day. Our growth will see the development of new facilities that will help meet the overwhelming demand for sustainable materials.
