Clean Tech
Clean Tech, Inc. is a privately held PET and HDPE post-consumer plastic recycler and a wholly-owned recycling affiliate of Plastipak Holdings, headquartered in Dundee, Michigan. The company produces food-grade recycled resin via closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling for global CPG brand owners.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1988
- HeadquartersDundee, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Clean Tech does
Clean Tech, Inc. is a privately held post-consumer plastic recycling company founded in 1988 in Dundee, Michigan, operating as a wholly-owned recycling affiliate of Plastipak Holdings, Inc. The company specializes in closed-loop, bottle-to-bottle recycling of PET and HDPE plastics, converting post-consumer bottles into food-grade recycled resin suitable for new packaging production. Its core technology stack comprises flake color sorting systems (deployed since 1995), multi-line PET extrusion (expanded in 2005 and 2008), solid-state polycondensation (SSP, introduced 2008), and vacuum nitrogen extrusion that achieves "total decontamination" of recycled PET to optical and mechanical specifications equivalent to virgin resin.
The company's products are food-grade recycled PET (rPET) and HDPE pellets sold through a direct enterprise B2B sales motion to packaging manufacturers and consumer brand owners across multiple verticals: beverages, food retail, consumer cleaning, personal care, automotive, healthcare, and aerosol packaging. Revenue mechanics are anchored to pellet volume sales at undisclosed pricing, with the customer base spanning global CPG brand owners. Clean Tech operates a state-of-the-art headquarters facility in Dundee, Michigan (initially a 40,000 sq ft expansion in 1995, with a new facility fully operational in 2012), while affiliated Plastipak recycling operations span six locations across the US, UK, Spain, Luxembourg, and France.
The firm's European expansion has been materially supported by public co-financing — including a €6.03M WHITEPET project with €4.52M in partially refundable CDTI aid plus FEDER support, and €11M+ invested at the Casarrubios del Monte preform plant under the EU Regional Incentives Program. The company has earned three DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation and has progressively scaled capacity, doubling food-grade PET output in 2021 and expanding HDPE recycling in 2023. Clean Tech is privately held, has 51-100 employees, and reports no external venture or institutional investment.
Clean Tech firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Clean Tech
- Legal name
- Clean Tech, Inc.
- Website
- https://cleantechrecycling.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1988
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Clean Tech, Inc. is a privately held PET and HDPE post-consumer plastic recycler and a wholly-owned recycling affiliate of Plastipak Holdings, headquartered in Dundee, Michigan. The company produces food-grade recycled resin via closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling for global CPG brand owners.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Clean Tech industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Plastic Recycling & Recycled Resin Manufacturing
- NAICS
- Resin and Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing (32521)
- SIC
- Plastic Materials, Synth Resins & Nonvulcan Elastomers (2821)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Food-Grade & rPET/rHDPE Recycling (Decontamination/SSP, Bottle-to-Bottle) (EUAIAKAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Recycled & Reprocessed Polymer Resin Manufacturing (rPET, rPP, rPE; PCR/PIR resins) (IMANAAAH), Reprocessed Resin & Recycled Polymer Compounding (PCR/PIR Compounds) (IMANAMAG), Rigid Plastics Recycling (HDPE/PP, Injection/Blow Molded) (EUAIAKAF)
Keywords
Where Clean Tech is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dundee
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices8 records
Markets served
Clean Tech business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Recycled Resin Sales: Sale of post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET and HDPE pellets produced from processed bottles. These pellets are sold to manufacturers for use in new packaging production, creating a closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling revenue stream.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Clean Tech product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Clean Tech operates a closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling system that processes post-consumer PET and HDPE plastic bottles into food-grade recycled resin pellets. The recycled resin is sold to packaging manufacturers and brand owners across beverages, food retail, consumer cleaning, personal care, automotive, and healthcare sectors, enabling circular-economy packaging production. The company runs a single state-of-the-art processing facility in Dundee, Michigan, with affiliated operations in the UK, Spain, Luxembourg, and France.
Product overview
Clean Tech is a recycling company operating as an affiliate of Plastipak Holdings, offering a unified bottle-to-bottle recycling service that transforms post-consumer PET and HDPE bottles into high-quality recycled resins. The company operates a single state-of-the-art facility in Dundee, Michigan, processing materials collected through curbside recycling programs and state deposit programs. The core offering is the bottle-to-bottle closed-loop recycling system, producing food-grade recycled PET and HDPE resins sold to manufacturers for new packaging. These recycled materials serve various market segments including consumer cleaning, beverages, food retail, aerosol, automotive/industrial/agricultural, personal care, alcoholic beverages, and health care packaging. Clean Tech does not offer a modular software platform but rather a physical recycling service with associated recycled resin products.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling Service Closed-loop recycling service that collects, sorts, grinds, washes, and extrudes post-consumer PET and HDPE bottles into food-grade recycled resin pellets for use in new food-contact packaging. Sold to packaging manufacturers and brand owners.
- Post-Consumer Recycled PET Resin (rPET) Food-grade recycled PET pellets produced through bottle-to-bottle recycling process using vacuum nitrogen extrusion and solid-state polycondensation. Sold to manufacturers to produce new food-grade packaging with optical and mechanical properties equivalent to virgin PET.
- Post-Consumer Recycled HDPE Resin High-density polyethylene recycled resin pellets produced from post-consumer bottles through sorting, grinding, washing, and extrusion. Used by manufacturers for new packaging products including containers and bottles.
Quantifiable outcome
- Doubled food-grade PET capacity in 2021
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Clean Tech
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Clean Tech technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Clean Tech partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Plastipak Holdings, Inc.flagshipClean Tech is an affiliate of Plastipak Holdings, Inc., operating as the dedicated recycling subsidiary. In partnership with Plastipak, Clean Tech is committed to providing sustainable recycling solutions with positive impact on the global community. Clean Tech serves as Plastipak's single state-of-the-art recycling facility.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Clean Tech competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Suez: International waste management and recycling group with significant European PCR processing capacity, including food-grade PET. Comparable in feedstock and end-market but bundled into much broader municipal and industrial waste services.
- Veolia: Global environmental services and waste management incumbent that operates PET recycling facilities in Europe and supplies food-grade rPCR. Overlaps with Clean Tech on the European recycling side but operates across a much wider portfolio including collection, water, and energy services.
- PreZero: Environmental services division of the Schwarz Group, operating sorting and recycling facilities for plastics including PET and HDPE across Europe. Comparable as a European plastics recycler but part of a broader retail-driven circular economy initiative.
- Amcor: Global packaging company with rigid and flexible plastic packaging operations and a publicly stated commitment to PCR content. Comparable as a major consumer of food-grade recycled resin and as a broad incumbent in Clean Tech's served end markets.
- Novolex: Major North American plastic packaging manufacturer with growing PCR product lines and a sustainability-focused portfolio. Comparable as a downstream customer of recycled resin and as a broader rigid-packaging incumbent alongside Clean Tech's parent Plastipak.
Direct peers
- KW Plastics: The largest US recycler of post-consumer HDPE and polypropylene, producing reprocessed resin for blow molding, injection, and extrusion applications. Direct peer on the HDPE side of Clean Tech's portfolio with overlapping rigid-plastics feedstock.
- Envision Plastics: US-based recycler specializing in post-consumer HDPE and PCR resin production for personal care, household, and food-grade packaging. Comparable as a food-grade and consumer-packaging-focused HDPE recycler.
- ALPLA: Global plastic packaging manufacturer that acquired CarbonLite's US rPET operations and operates its own bottle-to-bottle recycling in Europe. Highly comparable as both a downstream Plastipak competitor and as a vertically integrated rPET producer serving the same food/beverage brand owners.
- Indorama Ventures: The world's largest PET producer and a major operator of bottle-to-bottle rPET recycling facilities across the US, Europe, and Asia. Closely comparable to Clean Tech in feedstock processing, food-grade pellet production, and global B2B sales to brand owners.
- CarbonLite: One of the largest US producers of food-grade rPET pellets from post-consumer bottles, operating large-scale decontamination and extrusion. Directly comparable technology, feedstock, and end-market overlap, now part of ALPLA.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Clean Tech social profiles
Digital presenceClean Tech compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Clean Tech financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Clean Tech leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Clean Tech subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Clean Tech funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Clean Tech M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Clean Tech
What does Clean Tech do?
Clean Tech operates a closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling system that processes post-consumer PET and HDPE plastic bottles into food-grade recycled resin pellets. The recycled resin is sold to packaging manufacturers and brand owners across beverages, food retail, consumer cleaning, personal care, automotive, and healthcare sectors, enabling circular-economy packaging production. The company runs a single state-of-the-art processing facility in Dundee, Michigan, with affiliated operations in the UK, Spain, Luxembourg, and France.
Is Clean Tech a public or private company?
Clean Tech is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Clean Tech founded?
Clean Tech was founded in 1988. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Clean Tech based?
Clean Tech is headquartered in Dundee, United States, in the North America region.
How does Clean Tech make money?
One revenue line is on record: recycled Resin Sales.
Who are Clean Tech's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Suez, Veolia, PreZero, Amcor and Novolex. Direct peers are KW Plastics, Envision Plastics, ALPLA, Indorama Ventures and CarbonLite.
Does Clean Tech have an API?
No public API is recorded for Clean Tech.
What industry is Clean Tech in?
Clean Tech's product category is Plastic Recycling & Recycled Resin Manufacturing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAIAKAD, Food-Grade & rPET/rHDPE Recycling (Decontamination/SSP, Bottle-to-Bottle), with a secondary code of IMANAAAH, Recycled & Reprocessed Polymer Resin Manufacturing (rPET, rPP, rPE; PCR/PIR resins). Its NAICS code is 32521 and its SIC code is 2821.