Clean Tech

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.

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

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

• Plastic recycling services
• PET HDPE recycling
• Food-grade recycled resin
• Bottle-to-bottle recycling
• Post-consumer recycled materials

Headquarters

HQ city

Dundee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. 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

Core 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

Named customers1 record

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Plastipak Holdings, Inc.flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerClean 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

Broad 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

• Facebookfacebook.com/CleanTechUS
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clean-tech-inc-us

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clean Tech