By: Amanda Rowoldt, Ohio Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: May 28, 2025
About: Denying Alterra’s renewal permit to install and operate air emission sources
To: Ohio EPA
My name is Amanda Rowoldt and I live in Franklin County in Dublin, Ohio with my two young boys. I am a Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, with over 90,000 members in Ohio. As a mother, as someone concerned about healthy living, and an advocate for children, it's important for me to express my strong opposition to the Alterra Energy facility located at 1200 E Waterloo Rd in Akron, Ohio and to urge the Ohio EPA to deny Alterra’s renewal permit to install and operate air emission sources.
The process taking place at Alterra Energy is called advanced recycling. This process is neither advanced nor recycling. What it really is, is a process that incinerates or burns plastic trash and leaves behind contaminated oil and toxic ash. The process also emits toxic pollutants into the air such as heavy metals, benzene, and formaldehyde. This air pollution can cause multiple health problems including cancers, birth defects and serious cognitive dysfunctions like impaired memory, impaired attention, and reduced processing speed.
As a mother of two young boys, I’m particularly concerned about highly polluting processes like “advanced recycling” because children are especially vulnerable to the negative health impacts of air pollution. Children’s bodies and brains are growing and developing until their early twenties, so pollution exposure can negatively impact their normal growth and development. Children also breathe in more air pound for pound than adults, therefore, they breathe in more air pollution for their size. For pregnant mothers, exposure to air pollution can lead to adverse birth outcomes like miscarriage, preterm birth, low birth weight, or stillbirth.
It is imperative that the Ohio EPA abides by its mandate to protect the environment and public health. I am urging the Ohio EPA to deny the renewal permit for Alterra Energy and protect the air that Summit County families breathe and the public health of nearby Akron families, especially children and pregnant mothers.
The state of Ohio must protect Ohioans from unnecessary toxic exposure. All children should have the right to breathe clean air and parents in Akron deserve to send their children outside to play without fear, worry, or anxiety about the air their children are breathing. Playing outdoors is essential for children’s comprehensive health, and the children of Akron deserve to be healthy and happy. Too much is at stake for the good people of Summit County. As a mother and a resident of Ohio, I strongly oppose Alterra Energy’s renewal permit.
Thank you.