The "world's first factory" that recycles what cannot be recycled is in France

Biologically recycling plastic food trays that usually end up in incinerators is now possible: after developing an innovative technology, the company Carbios is preparing to open what it presents as "the world's first factory" of its kind, in eastern France.

"The world's first biorecycling plant will be tricolor" French President Emmanuel Macron praised on the social network LinkedIn, describing the process as a "technological revolution" and the upcoming factory as "French pride".

With its technology, the company says it can recycle products that no one wants. Bottles, trays, or old clothes, notably of poor quality or dirty, are most sought after by the company because most other recycling companies do not process them.

"We are not interested in the quality of the incoming waste, we even look for mediocre waste," Carbios CEO Emmanuel Ladent told the press. "With a technology like Carbios, we will recycle everything that others do not."

This solution will offer these difficult-to-recycle waste a "circular recycling, giving them value and ultimately preventing them from being buried or incinerated" summarized the group located in Clermont-Ferrand during the laying of the foundation stone of its factory in Longlaville.

In concrete terms, an enzyme created by the company has the ability, when mixed in a tank with waste, to separate the different components of the waste and set aside the polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

It takes about one kilogram of enzymes for one tonne of PET, Mr.Ladent explains. "After a few hours, a liquid comes out," after the enzyme has separated the PET.

There are then filtration and purification steps allowing the production of entirely biorecycled PET, "without compromising its quality," according to Mr. Ladent.

PET plastics are widely used but still mostly created from petroleum-based materials and not from recycling.

With this process, for "one tonne of prepared waste, we get 90% of material," Mr. Ladent explains, a figure "among the highest" in the different recycling techniques. The rest comes out "in the form of a cake, which are particles, which will be a very good consumable, ideal for example for energy for a cement plant."

The objective for Mr. Ladent is now to "license" this technology and market it globally starting with the Longlaville plant, just a few kilometers from Luxembourg and Belgium.

PET waste, ideally with "a minimum of plastic bottles and a maximum of difficult-to-recycle waste" according to Mr. Ladent, will be collected within a radius of "300 to 500 kilometers" of this border town, in France, Germany, Belgium, or Luxembourg.

Various brands, such as L'Occitane, L'Oréal, Salomon, or Puma, are already partners with Carbios.

A textile sector, sometimes made of polyester, is notably planned, as only 13% of them are currently recycled, according to Carbios.

"A decade" of research was necessary to perfect this recycling technique known as "enzymatic depolymerization," the company says. A first research and development process was conducted as early as 2011, to move on to tests under industrial conditions in Clermont-Ferrand's laboratory and then demonstrator.

Located on a 13-hectare site, the future plant will be able to process 50,000 tonnes of waste per year, which would represent, for example, 300 million t-shirts. Around 150 jobs, direct and indirect, will be created.

The investment, estimated at 230 million euros in June 2023, is partly financed by the State and the Grand Est region. The plant is expected to be fully operational by 2026.