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(Photo credit: Carbios)

Enzymatical recycling

Carbios unveils major innovation in polyester recycling with new textile preparation line, in the presence of Roland Lescure, French Minister of Industry

2:51 min Enzymatic recycling
Clermont-Ferrand, France

  • Polyester textiles account for 2/3 of the global PET market of around 100 million tons. Only 13% of textile waste is currently recycled, and only 1% is recycled “fiber-to-fiber”1,2

  • Carbios has developed an automated textile preparation line integrating all stages (shredding and extraction of hard points) to transform textile waste into raw material for enzymatic recycling

  • Carbios’ textile preparation line meets a critical challenge for textile industrialization and circularity

Carbios, (Euronext Growth Paris: ALCRB), a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, today inaugurated its textile preparation line at its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, in the presence of Mr. Lescure, French Minister for Industry.  To streamline the textile preparation phase, which is currently carried out by hand or on several lines, Carbios has developed a fully integrated and automated line that transforms textile waste from used garments or cutting scraps into raw material suitable for depolymerization with its enzymatic biorecycling process.  This patented line integrates all preparation stages (shredding and extraction of hard points such as buttons or fasteners), and provides Carbios with a high-performance, scalable development tool. The platform will help validate the biorecycling technology for textiles at demonstration plant scale (by 2024), and provides Carbios with expertise in working with collection and sorting operators to specify the quality of textiles and the preparation steps needed to make them suitable for enzymatic recycling. This expertise will also be invaluable to brands in the eco-design of their products.

Roland Lescure, French Minister of Industry – “Textile recycling is a major issue, as the need for solutions to manage the life cycle of these products is critical: worldwide, only 13% of textile waste is currently recycled, with the remaining 87% ending up in landfill or incineration. Carbios is contributing in the creation of a French recycling industry. Thanks to its know-how and its innovative, collaborative spirit, Carbios is providing a solution – cutting-edge and made in France – to what was until now a real obstacle to textile recycling.”

Current collection, sorting and preparation infrastructures limit the amount of textile waste available for “fiber-to-fiber” recycling.  Collection rates average around 15-25% worldwide3, and much of the waste collected is exported to Africa, Asia or Latin America for sorting.

Moreover, textiles are highly complex materials, with yarns of different composition (or nature) that are difficult, if not impossible, to physically separate. However, the highly selective enzyme developed by Carbios can specifically depolymerize the PET (polyester) present in textile material.

At present, textiles are sorted and prepared mainly by hand, with low yields, particularly for disruptors to recycling processes such as “hard points” (zips, buttons, etc.).  To optimize this crucial phase, Carbios is contributing a textile preparation solution to accelerate the development of biorecycling in the textile industry. Enzymatic recycling, or biorecycling, therefore contributes to the construction of a textile recycling chain and the acceleration of textile circularity, also enabling brands to do away with used bottles.

Textile collection in Europe from 1 January 2025

Separate collection of textile waste will be mandatory in Europe from 1 January 2025.  By 2030, the European Union intends to set a minimum content of recycled fibers in the composition of textiles, according to the Commission’s website.4

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Header CaptionRoland Lescure, French Minister of Industry (left) accompanied by Emmanuel Ladent, CEO Carbios (far right) and representatives of Carbios partner brands (On, Salomon and Puma), inaugurates the textile preparation line for biorecycling. (Photo credit: Carbios)

1 Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017

2 Fiber-to-fiber recycling transforms textile waste into new fibers for clothing and textiles, with no loss in quality

3 Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017

4 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/qanda_22_2015

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www.carbios.com

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