Carbios will knock your socks off with their enzyme tech that is now converting textile waste and your old polyester socks and sweaters into clear plastic bottles. We\u2019ve heard of clothing made from plastic bottles like Patagonia\u2019s fleece vests, but now Carbios is making it happen the other way. And with \u2018fast fashion\u2019 and record-breaking tons of clothing going into landfills, their tech could help solve a huge global problem.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s Digest, the path to commercialization, the enzymatic depolymerization process that makes the magic happen, why this textiles to plastic bottles tech is so hot, an exclusive Digest interview with Carbios leadership, and more\u2026and it\u2019s ready for you now at The Digest online.<\/p>\n
The backstory
\nThe fact that H&M clothing big brand started giving customers a 15% discount on new clothing for bringing in their old, worn clothing tells you something about the fast fashion consequences and the fact that 95% of all textiles have the potential to be reused or recycled, but currently they are recycled at a rate of only 15%. Just look at this chart from the EPA on U.S. textile waste.<\/p>\n
So the fact that Carbios has produced the first clear plastic bottles from enzymatically recycled textile waste is a huge step forward in helping textiles and fast fashion turn itself around into a more circular industry.<\/p>\n
Carbios estimates there are 42 million tons of polyester textiles produced annually in the world, so what they are doing matters and matters big time.<\/p>\n
Current mechanical technologies inhibit clothing waste from being recycled efficiently, resulting in excess waste and pollution. Around 85% of all textiles thrown away in the U.S. are either dumped into landfills or burned, and globally, just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled. Carbios\u2019 process, using highly specific enzymes, allows textile waste to be recovered and converted into a high quality grade of PET plastic, suitable for bottles.<\/p>\n
CARBIOS is a company known for pioneering new enzymatic solutions to reinvent the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers, and now that it has successfully produced the first bottles containing 100% recycled Purified Terephthalic Acid (rPTA) from textile waste that contains a high PET content, we see it becoming an even bigger name.<\/p>\n
Carbios is already operating in a growing PET market of $70 billion USD. This latest milestone confirms the capacity of Carbios\u2019 technology to recycle textile waste and opens up access to an additional waste stream of up to 42 million tons per year, worth over $40 billion.<\/p>\n
An even better, yes, the bottles they made from textile waste are the exact same quality as the ones produced from virgin PET (petrochemicals).<\/p>\n
The path to commercialization
\nFor context, Carbios\u2019 recycling\u00a0process fully breaks down and recycles PET plastic (e.g. soda bottles, colored plastics, polyester). Its enzymatic depolymerization process, grounded in biology, is a necessary departure from the current standard chemical recycling processes. Carbios\u2019 infinite recycling approach also aligns with many multinational brand owners\u2019 commitments to adopt innovative recycling technologies to meet sustainability goals.<\/p>\n
The Company\u2019s path to commercialization is supported by international cosmetic and beverage brands\u00a0L\u2019Oreal, Nestle, PepsiCo, and Suntory\u00a0as well as multinational manufacturer\u00a0Michelin\u00a0and\u00a0Novozymes, the world\u2019s largest enzyme producer, to scale up and produce PET-degrading enzymes.<\/p>\n
Martin Stephan, the Deputy CEO\u00a0at Carbios told The Digest in an exclusive interview, \u201cWe have partners along the value chain: Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies (TechnipFMC), enzyme producer (Novozymes) and brand-owners (L\u2019Or\u00e9al, Nestl\u00e9 Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe).\u201d<\/p>\n
These major outcomes were achieved as part of the CE-PET (Circular Economy PET) research project, of which Carbios is the lead alongside its partner TWB (Toulouse White Biotechnology). This project was financed by ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency).<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud that we successfully transformed polyester textile waste into clear bottles, which have identical properties as those made from virgin PET. This major innovation allows us to expand our sources of supply which, until now, consisted primarily of PET plastic waste,\u201d said Professor Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer of Carbios.<\/p>\n
The technology
\nCurrently, mechanical recycling technologies do not enable clothing waste to be recycled efficiently. The few textiles that can be reused are incorporated into lower quality applications such as padding, insulators or rags. This process is called \u201cdowncycling\u201d.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the breakthrough developed by Carbios enables polyester\u00a0 textile fibers to be \u201cupcycled\u201d in a high quality grade of PET suitable for the production of clear bottles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis result demonstrates the extent of our technology\u2019s possibilities: We can now produce transparent bottles from polyester textile waste or from post-consumer colored bottles. This works both ways \u2013 so we can also make a t-shirt from bottles or disposable food trays,\u201d said Professor Marty. Indeed, Carbios has succeeded in producing PET fibers for textile applications with 100% rPTA, from enzymatically recycled PET plastic waste.<\/p>\n
Carbios\u2019 enzymatic recycling technology fully breaks down any kind of post-consumer PET plastic into its original building blocks (i.e., monomers). These can then be used to produce PET plastics that are equal to virgin ones \u2013 examples include bottles and packaging.<\/p>\n
This is the first biological approach that enables PET plastics to be infinitely recycled, which adheres to circular economy principles. The original enzyme was discovered in nature \u2013 and in this form, its thermal stability and PET depolymerization activity were not sufficient. Both properties were highly improved by Carbios and its academic partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed, our process can handle bottle-to-bottle, bottle-to-fiber, fiber-to-bottle and fiber-to-fiber,\u201d said Marty. \u201cCurrently, the raw material we\u2019ll be using initially is from post-consumer packaging (bottles, containers, trays). This is not necessarily a better way, but with the textile post-consumer waste streams not fully recognized, it is more immediately actionable. In time, we expect to see both raw material streams performing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carbios\u2019 process enables low-value waste to be recovered and to have a new life in more challenging applications \u2013 in short, it facilitates infinite recycling of PET-based plastics and textiles. This innovative enzymatic waste recycling technology is fully in line with European objectives of creating a circular economy and strengthening environmental protection.<\/p>\n
The future
\nAs for what the future holds, Stephan told The Digest, \u201cWe plan to license our unique enzymatic recycling process to PET producers by the end of 2022 \/ beginning of 2023.\u201d So stay tuned to see the magic happen in real life soon.<\/p>\n
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