Carbios, a company pioneering new bio-industrial solutions to reinvent the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers, announced an exclusive partnership with biological solutions company Novozymes.

This agreement secures the production of Carbios’ proprietary polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-degrading enzymes at both a demonstration level and an industrial scale. The agreement also represents a critical step for Carbios in demonstrating the positive environmental impact of its technology and ensures it can provide its future customers with a sustainable solution for the infinite recycling of PET-based products, such as water and soda bottles, plastic packaging and textiles.

"Many years ago, we envisioned the great potential of enzymes to bring PET-based plastics and fibers into the circular economy,” said Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios, in a statement. “Following a first partnership on PLA biodegradation with Novozymes that began in January 2019, today’s agreement on PET recycling reinforces our collaboration. It also demonstrates the trust that the world’s largest provider of enzyme technologies has placed in Carbios. We are proud to share this common ambition to preserve the planet’s resources and to work together with Novozymes, to help build a more sustainable world."

"At Novozymes, we help bring biological answers to many of the global challenges we face today,” said Jens Kolind, vice president of household care global marketing at Novozymes, in a statement. “We are happy to expand our collaboration with Carbios where we work together on finding biological solutions to address the significant sustainability challenge of plastic pollution."

Carbios has developed a biology-based solution that uses enzymes to break down widely used PET plastics and fibers. Unlike the limited recycling potential of mechanical processes, Carbios’ approach gives new value to plastic, preventing post-consumer plastics from manifesting as waste. Transforming the way plastics are produced and safely recycled requires unprecedented levels of innovation and collaboration. This agreement with Novozymes, along with the support and vision of Carbios’ consumer brand consortium, which includes L’Oréal, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, brings the company’s patented solution one step further toward industrial and commercial reality.

Drawing on the company’s proprietary enhanced recycling technology and the extensive experience of its partners, Carbios will launch the construction of a demonstration plant for the recycling of PET-based plastics and polyester fibers in 2020. The first operations are expected to begin in 2021, prior to a large-scale industrial deployment.