Gravitas Infinitum and National Standard to scale virtual landfill service centers

Gravitas Infinitum LLC., a sustainable impact holding company in Naples, Florida, has entered into an agreement with National Standard, a U.S.-based infrastructure financial and advisory firm in Niles, Michigan, for the deployment of Carbotura Zero-Fill Service Centers in the United States and select international markets.   

According to a news release, the first service centers, expected to be operational in late 2023, will use zero-waste, zero-emissions technology turning waste into advanced materials and helping to reduce dependence on landfills.     

Gravitas calls it a "virtual landfill service" that solves the mounting global waste problem by turning the standard municipal and specialized solid waste collections into recoverable materials which are reusable and sellable products. This structure will allow Gravitas Infinitum to scale multiple Carbotura Zero-Fill centers globally.   

In implementing its Zero-Fill technology, Gravitas Infinitum's Carbotura division and its technology partners use a process called Microwave Accelerated Pyrolysis, which turns solid waste into sellable raw materials with a variety of uses.   

These products include water, renewable fuels, activated carbon, graphite, graphene and other high-value critical materials. Except for oxygen, the process generates no excess waste or emissions as the process is otherwise self-contained. The carbon is recovered in the Zero-Fill process and stored in the end products.   

Of the 2 billion tons of waste produced annually, only about 20 percent is recycled, according to Gravitas. Of that, most are exported to developing countries that don't have sufficient infrastructure to deal with waste in an environmentally safe or just way. The company says Carbotura can transform between 500-10,000 tons per day of municipal solid and specialized waste into high-value renewable materials resulting in 100 percent diversion from landfills, all while generating zero emissions or waste.  

"The global waste problem is much greater than we think and the generational liability we are pushing forward is tragic,” says Allen Witters, CEO of Gravitas Infinitum. “We can now eliminate landfills and divert waste directly back into the manufacturing economy. Municipalities and waste handlers have an opportunity to redirect 100 percent waste into recoverable materials helping close the gaps in the circular supply chain.”  

Additionally, municipal waste only represents about 10 percent of all waste generated. In the future, Gravitas says it plans to branch out to develop these centers for processing industrial waste and landfill mining.