The bio-recycling PET project will include an investment of around €150m for Carbios core technology, as well as up to €50m for the infrastructure preparation of the site
Carbios and Indorama have collaborated to build bio-recycled PET facility in France. (Credit: Adrian Malec from Pixabay)
Enzymatic solutions provider Carbios has collaborated with PET manufacturer Indorama Ventures to construct a manufacturing facility of bio-recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in France.
Claimed to be the world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET bio-recycling plant, the new facility will be built at Indorama’s site in Longlaville, France.
Slated to be operational in 2025, the new manufacturing facility is expected to have a processing capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET waste per annum.
The bio-recycling PET project will include an investment of around €150m for Carbios core technology, as well as up to €50m for the infrastructure preparation of the site.
The new manufacturing facility is anticipated to create up to 150 direct and indirect full-time jobs in the region.
Indorama Ventures CEO D K Agarwal said: “We are pleased to implement Carbios’ innovative and transformative technology at our Longlaville site. Bio-recycled PET addresses customers’ growing demand to contribute to a cleaner planet through high-quality plastics while decreasing the use of hydrocarbons.”
Carbios is now focusing on industrialisation and commercialisation by partnering with Indorama following the successful opening of its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand.
Indorama’s French production site will be used to conduct a feasibility study for the industrialisation of Carbios’ technology called C-ZYME, which transforms PET into its core monomers that can be used to produce 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable PET.
The partnership will help meet increasing sustainable packaging requirements of both consumers and large consumer goods companies including Carbios’ partners and shareholders such as L’Oréal, Michelin, L’Occitane, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo, Suntory Beverage & Food Europe.
Carbios CEO Emmanuel Ladent said: “With this first medium-sized plant, we want to become the world reference for the Circular Economy of plastics and textiles. By engaging in such a partnership with Indorama Ventures, we confirm our commitment to pursue our initial industrial development in France.”
In July last year, Indorama announced the construction of a new PET recycling facility in West Java, Indonesia.