On November 19, 2020, the chemical recycling company CARBIOS announced that it was able to produce clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles from 100 % recycled, purified terephthalic acid (TPA, CAS 100-21-0) obtained from PET-containing textile waste. CARBIOS was also the first company to successfully produce PET bottles from enzymatically recycled PET (FPF reported).
CARBIOS stated that this achievement confirms the capacity of its technology to recycle textile waste. This offers an alternative ‘upcycling’ solution to the common mechanical recycling technologies that often lead to low-quality material ‘downcycling’ of textile waste.
Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer of CARBIOS, praised the ability to transform polyester textile waste into clear bottles, with properties identical to those of bottles made from virgin PET. The company also succeeded in producing new PET fibers from enzymatically recycled textile PET. He now expects CARBIOS to expand to previously disregarded sources of waste materials supply for their recycling process, worth $40 billion. Marty emphasized that the CARBIOS process is also in line with the European objectives of creating a circular economy.
Read more
Carbios (November 19, 2020). “Carbios produces first clear plastic bottles from enzymatically recycled textile waste.”
Karen Laird (November 19, 2020). “Bioengineered enzymes enable upcycling of polyester textile waste into clear plastic bottles.” Sustainable Plastics
