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.
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’ C-ZYME™ technology fully complies with the European Commission’s goals.
Faced with the limitations of thermomechanical recycling processes, Carbios’ approach is unique in that it creates value for plastic and textile waste by providing 100% recycling of all types of PET waste without loss of quality. Carbios is committed to a truly circular economy model across the whole value chain of the plastics and textiles life cycle. At the cusp of industrialisation, its one-of-a-kind method will fulfil both the European Union’s regulatory requirements2 and the ambitions of large companies that have announced significant commitments to sustainable materials. “We were able to demonstrate the significant deployment capacity of our enzymatic PET recycling technology by bringing our industrial demonstration unit into operation in September 2021. The grant will help fund the development of trials on plastic and textile waste at the demonstration plant, which will help confirm the process’s scale-up and lead to the commercialization of our technology through licensing,” says Kader Hidra, Carbios’ Chief Financial Officer.
The LIFE program aims to fund initiatives that meet the regulations that the European Union is enacting. Recent legislative reforms2 in favor of an improved end of life of plastics, have created a major potential for enzymatic recycling of plastics and textiles in PET.
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1This funding, made up of grants, will be paid in several instalments over the duration of the project with an initial payment of 40%.
2DIR (2019)/904 on single-use plastics, Circular Economy Action Plan (strategy for textiles and strategy for a cleaner and more competitive Europe COM (2020)98), The EU Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy European Green Deal COM (2019)640)
