A Consortium for Industrial-Scale Plastic Bio-Recycling – Carbios, L’Oreal
French biotech Carbios, a pioneer in the bioplasturgy field, has now partnered up with worldwide beauty industry leader, L’ORÉAL, to form a consortium for the bio-recycling of plastic on an industrial scale.
Carbios has developed an enzymatic bio-recycling process for plastics that break polymers down to the basic components (monomers) originally used to create them. Once separated and purified, the monomers can be used again to create virgin plastic, without losing any value through the recycling process. This biological process is free of the constraints facing conventional recycling techniques and is the first step to developing a new way of managing the plastic lifecycle—in line with the circular economy.
L’Oréal and the other manufacturers in the consortium will benefit from the development of this Carbios innovation and will be first in line to receive the first available units.
The five-year consortium will have L’Oréal using the bio-plastic when it designs its new packaging, promoting it to many other companies and industries. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to protect the environment, and this consortium will also help boost the circular economy,” stated Philippe Thuvien, Packaging & Development VP at L’Oréal.
As Carbios CEO Jean-Claude LUMARET explains, “We are proud to have cofounded this consortium with L’ORÉAL. Our enzyme technology provides a brand new solution for optimizing the performance and life cycle of plastics. L’ORÉAL’s commitment to sustainable development helps drive innovation, and we are confident that other international companies will join the project in the coming months to help us initiate a major transition in the way we produce the plastic materials of tomorrow.
”
