Atlas supplies recycled-plastic bridge parts as it pursues factory partners

A 40-foot bridge in a Massachusetts wetland uses Atlas’s recycled composite trusses, supplied to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Installation took less than a day. The company’s components also support structures including barns and docks.

Zach Winn’s MIT News report describes the business founded by MIT researcher A.J. Perez and former Maine senator Matt Pouliot. Their Atlas Factory Stack combines plastic recycling with robotic manufacturing and large-scale 3D printing.

The system melts shredded single-use plastic and combines it with American-made fibreglass, then prints building components. Atlas says the recycling step requires no water, reducing its dependence on local water supplies.

Factory partnerships remain in talks

The founders are discussing international deployments with prospective franchise partners. They want factories close to construction sites, using nearby plastic waste, rather than a single distant plant shipping components around the world.

Atlas puts a factory cell’s daily output at enough framing parts for roughly one small house. That measures structural components, not completed homes.

Perez also sees the possibility of producing parts more cheaply than injection moulding. It is a prospective saving, separate from the evidence of components already being used in construction.