Green Chemistry Company Carbios receives the “Innovative Company” accreditation from the French state innovation agency OSEO

Carbios, a green chemistry company, today announced it received the “OSEO Innovative Company” accreditation that distinguishes the most innovative companies in their respective fields. Carbios specializes in innovative biological and industrial processes for recovering plastic waste and develops competitive production processes for biosourced plastics and biopolymers. This accreditation enables innovation-focused French investment funds (Fonds Communs de Placement dans l’Innovation) to invest in Carbios and enjoy a number of fiscal advantages.

The “OSEO Innovative Company” rewards Carbios’ long efforts in Research & Development investment to develop biological processes for recovering plastic waste and produce a new generation of biopolymers through a unique collective project on plastics named THANAPLAST™[1]. This collaboration brings together CARBIOS’ different corporate and academic partners (The CNRS, the INRA, the Université de Poitiers, Deinove, the Barbier Group and the Limagrain Group).

Truffle Capital, an independent European private equity firm dedicated to investing in and building tomorrow’s leaders in technology, is Carbios’ historical shareholder.

Carbios CEO Jean-Claude Lumaret stated: “The OSEO Innovative Company label rewards our teams’ know-how and expertise in plastic waste recovery. This highlights our innovative strength to tackle an environmental, industrial and social issue as Europe alone generates almost 25 million metric tons of plastic waste each year and only 20% of that is recycled[2]. This also brings our ability to develop a new generation of biodegradable plastics with limited life span and produce more competitive biobased polymers into spotlight. Our innovative enzymatic bioprocesses aim to transform plastic waste into a novel, high-quality, renewable raw material for the plastics industry using biological pathways that are environmentally friendly. We are expanding our research and investment efforts to offer a viable economic alternative to the depletion of agricultural resources (which might better be used to feed people) and the rarefaction of fossil fuels”, concluded Jean-Claude Lumaret.

[1] THANAPLAST^TM is a 5-year project with a budget of 22 M€. It brings together 60 researchers and will receive €9.6 million in financial support from the French state innovation agency OSEO as part of the latter’s Strategic Industrial Innovation program. CARBIOS (as the project’s initiator and leader) will contribute most of the budget (€15 million) and will receive €6.8 million of the €9.6 million provided by OSEO.

[2] Source: April 2011, European Commission (DG Environment) – Plastic waste in the environment