#Recycling / Circular Economy

2024-05-02

CARBIOS and Hündgen enter supply agreement for world’s first PET biorecycling plant

CARBIOS (Euronext Growth Paris: ALCRB), a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, and Hündgen Entsorgungs GmbH & Co. KG (Hündgen), a waste management expert in logistics, sorting services and the recycling of recyclable materials from waste mixtures, announce the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding relating to the sourcing, preparation and recycling of 15kt/year of post-consumer PET waste using CARBIOS’ biorecycling technology at its first commercial plant in Longlaville, from end 2026.

The partnership will leverage Hündgen’s expertise and network in the sourcing and preparation of light packaging waste collected from German households. This PET waste will be prepared into flakes ready for biorecycling using CARBIOS’ enzymatic depolymerization technology, which produces food-grade PTA and MEG, further re-polymerized into PET.

The supply partnership with Hündgen contributes to securing the majority of CARBIOS’ feedstock needs for its first commercial plant in Longlaville, France. This plant will have a 50kt/year capacity when it will be fully operational and is currently under construction. This latest sourcing announcement comes in addition to previously announced agreements, such as with Landbell Group for food trays from Germany, and the winning CITEO tender for trays in France. The location of the Longlaville plant is strategically close to nearby waste supplies in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.

Through its enzymatic depolymerization process, CARBIOS can process all types of PET waste, including waste that cannot be recycled with current technologies. Multilayered, colored, and opaque packaging waste as well as polyester textile waste now have circular recycling solutions.

Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of CARBIOS, comments: "Through our partnership with Hündgen, CARBIOS has now secured most of the feedstock supply for our first commercial plant. CARBIOS’ innovative biorecycling technology enables the conversion of diverse PET waste allowing more flexibility in sourcing, and price-competitiveness compared with high-demand clear bottles. Our local sourcing strategy has also paid off and demonstrates the importance of locating biorecycling plants near waste supplies, an expertise that we’re keen to share with our future license holders. "

Christian Hündgen, CEO of Hündgen Entsorgungs GmbH & Co.KG, says: "Establishing new standards in the field of plastic packaging recycling requires the development and implementation of innovative technologies and the promotion of cross-border cooperation. In this context, we are delighted to be part of one of the leading projects in Europe in the field of PET non-bottle recycling."

Carbios and Wankai postpone startup of China’s first PET biorecycling plant to 2028

The industrial deployment of enzymatic PET recycling in Asia is progressing, but at a slower pace than initially planned. French recycling technology company Carbios and its Chinese partner Wankai New Materials have announced that the commissioning of their planned PET biorecycling facility in Haining, Zhejiang Province, has been postponed and is now expected in the first half of 2028.

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