Tom Norton attended John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio majoring in History and Speech. After a 25 year career in the lighting and apartment industries, he sold his business interest and retired. However, six months later, with not much to do and concerned that all of his six children were attending college at the same time, he decided it was time to start a new business.
Being a lifelong recycler and environmentalist, he started Cleveland Reclaim Industries in 1980. The goal of his company was to recycle plastic rubbish from industrial plants. Later, Turtle Plastics was started to manufacture and market actual products made from this plastic rubbish. The Magnificent Machinery Company was also started to design and build recycling equipment.
And now Tom has closed the Recycling Loop with Turtle’s new Buy Back Program.
Tom’s message is a simple one:
“If we create a market for recycled plastics, in the form of products, then the rest of the issues, such as collection and processing will take care of themselves.”
