Alterra Energy, a local company that transforms plastics into synthetic oil, is asking the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a permit to allow work to continue and to affirm limits on the emissions it can produce.

Meanwhile, The Big Love Network — a group that opposes environmental racism in Akron — has voiced concerns about emissions the Alterra plant produces.

Before the Ohio EPA decides on the request, the agency will hold a public meeting this week to hear from residents. The draft permit for Alterra will be discussed Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Akron-Summit County Public Library at 60 S. High St. in downtown Akron. 

Public comment will follow a presentation by Alterra.

In addition to the public meeting, the EPA is accepting comments on the proposal through 5 p.m. June 4. 

Alterra already has permission to use a process called pyrolysis to convert hard-to-recycle plastics into raw oil products, said Katie Boyer, an EPA spokesperson. 

Omar Terrie, a spokesperson for Alterra, said the company heats post-consumer plastics — like milk jugs and plastic bags — back into an oil. The oil is then sent to chemical companies to make new plastics or for other uses.

Alterra’s process turns plastics into a gas by heating them in a kiln with no oxygen, Terrie said, then converting the gas into a liquid known as a feed stock for other purposes. The process, he said, is rigorously regulated.

The company, which was founded in 2009 and has been in operation since 2015, does this work at a facility on East Waterloo Road near the Akron Fulton Airport.

If renewed, Alterra’s permit would reduce the maximum amount of plastic the company can feed into its kiln each hour — from 6,250 pounds to 5,000 pounds. Boyer said in an email the reduction request was made because Alterra found it could not meet its maximum; Terrie said the reduced number is what the plant is run at. 

Terrie said the permit renewal had been delayed “out of an abundance of caution” while the EPA learned more about the technology. 

The permit was first issued in 2012 and was good for 10 years; it was modified in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Boyer said the renewal was delayed because of the modifications.

Big Love has for months organized in opposition to Alterra’s permit, holding meetings and rallies. 

“Our concerns, obviously, are pollution of toxic chemicals into the air from the Alterra facility,” said Beth Vild, The Big Love Network’s chief operating officer and director of programming. Vild is also a member of People Over Polymers.

Vild said she has particular concerns about benzene and vinyl chloride emissions. The draft permit provides limits for a number of pollutants: volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and particulate emissions.

If approved, Boyer said, the permit would set limits on Alterra’s emissions of those pollutants. Terrie said Alterra has operated in compliance and does not have any violations.

“We’re a good corporate neighbor and partner,” he said.

The process that Alterra uses, Vild said, is akin to incinerating plastic waste, not recycling it. She said Alterra is “barely recycling anything” and instead just burning plastic.

Terrie said Alterra is producing 20,000 tons of synthetic oil annually, with a staff of more than 50 people that is consistently growing. While he understands there are “a lot of legacy issues in the area that predate us,” and Alterra’s technology can seem scary, he said it’s used to reduce the amount of plastic that goes into landfills.

Still, Vild is concerned that the company is “greenwashing” — claiming to care about the planet while “doing really awful, terrible things to the planet.”

Boyer said in an email that, if approved, the permit “allows the company to operate in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment, following both Ohio and U.S. EPA air requirements set under the Clean Air Act.”

The permit process included an environmental justice screening. A representative from the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District, which completed the screening, did not respond to a request for the report or for comment.

The Akron Regional Air Quality Management District will make a recommendation to the EPA about whether the permit should be issued. Boyer said there’s no timeframe for the recommendation.

Public comment to the EPA can also be submitted, using permit number P0133062, online or by mail to:

Laura Miracle, ARAQMD

Summit County Public Health

1867 W. Market St., Akron, OH 44313