Enzymatic recycling:
removing the constraints of current processes
Opening new ecological and competitive avenues for the virtuous management of the life cycle of plastic and textile materials
Process overview
Our enzymatic recycling process uses an enzyme capable of specifically depolymerizing the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) contained in various plastics or textiles. Existing recycling processes have limitations: only transparent plastic can be recycled in closed loops, with a loss of quality in each cycle, making it difficult to obtain new products from 100% recycled PET. Thus, complex, coloured and soiled plastics are very difficult or impossible to recycle.
Unlike conventional processes, our technology allows the recycling of all types of PET waste as well as the production of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable PET products, without loss of quality. Plastic and textile waste is now a precious raw material enabling the circular economy to become an industrial reality.
Discover how it works
This is the first organic approach allowing PET plastics and textiles to be recycled according to a circular economy principle.
This process meets strong demand from consumers, public authorities and manufacturers who have made ambitious commitments in terms of sustainable development and eco-design of their packaging. This revolutionary technology makes it possible to recover all PET waste, including waste that cannot be recovered using current recycling technologies.
An internationally recognized process
This PET innovation, the first of its kind in the world, was recently recognized in a scientific paper published in the prestigious journal Nature. The article, entitled “An engineered PET-depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles”, was co-authored by our scientific teams and those of our academic partner, Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI)
In 2019, our recycling technology of PET plastics is among the first innovations to join the selection of the 1,000 sustainable and competitive solutions certified by the Solar Impulse Foundation. This label is awarded to innovations that combine criteria of technical feasibility, positive social and environmental impact, and economic viability.
Development stage and outlooks
At the pilot stage, Carbios’ technology has already made it possible to produce the first batches of transparent PET bottles from monomers obtained from the depolymerization of PET plastic waste as well as from PET polyester textile waste.
The launch of Carbios’ industrial demonstration plant, operating its biorecycling process, occurred in September 2021. This demonstration plant, located on a site of the Michelin Group in Clermont-Ferrand, validates the technical, environmental, and economic performance of our enzymatic PET recycling process. This step makes it possible to prepare the complete engineering documents of the process (from waste to monomers) for the construction and implementation of a first industrial unit.
The project “LIFE Cycle of Pet” project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union
The European LIFE funding program is a major grants tool that supports innovative solutions with low environmental impact and a track record of industrial deployment. Carbios’ technology fully complies with the European Commission’s goals.
Carbios announced that it has received alongside two significant partners T.EN Zimmer GmbH and Deloitte € 3.3 million – including € 3 million for Carbios – in the form of a European grant. T.EN Zimmer GmbH, will provide its expertise on monomer repolymerization in 100% recycled PET, and Deloitte on the environmental performance analysis (mainly through the Life Cycle Analysis) of the process for plastic and textile waste.
Contact: Maryon Wallet – maryon.wallet(at)carbios.com
The objective of the project is to demonstrate on a pre-industrial scale the enzymatic recycling process of PET and to license the technology.