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, bored 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.
Tom was a longtime member of Sierra Club, Greenpeace, The Cousteau Society, T.A.C. (Technical Advisory Committee) and Former Chairmen of the Household Hazardous Waste Committee of Cuyahoga County.

Always pushing the envelope, in 1996 at age 60 Tom and his wife, Doctor Karen Bradley, adopted Anna Polina, a 13 month old Russian child, who now at age 13 keeps her dad forever young!

And now Tom has closed the Recycling Loop with their 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”.

Mission Statement
To make and market products from materials that would otherwise be land filled.
To operate our business in an environmentally friendly manner.
To create a spirit of peace, love and caring for our employees and customers.

The Name Turtle
Tom was given a banner for his office many years ago with a picture of our current turtle. The caption said, “The Turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.” The giver thought Tom spent a lot of time sticking his neck out in various business enterprises. When it came time to name the new company, “Turtle” seemed appropriate because of the environmental concern. But, the original saying didn’t fit, so a new appropriate one was chosen.
Turtle Plastics’ slogan is “Slowly, But Surely”.