Carbios hosts ‘first’ PET biorecycling summit
French biorecycling specialist Carbios, which uses enzymatic technology to continuously recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-based polymers, hosted the inaugural World PET Biorecycling Summit in Paris earlier this month.
The two-day event, described by organisers as the first of its kind, featured explorer, founder of Swiss environmental non-profit Solar Impulse Foundation and trained psychiatrist, Dr Bertrand Piccard, as its keynote speaker. Carbios was among the first to obtain the foundation’s Efficient Solution label in 2019, in recognition of its “infinite plastic recycling technology”.
Other presenters included manager of sports brand Salomon’s footwear sustainability programme, Olivier Mouzin, in addition to the biotechnology firm’s own chief scientific officer, Alain Marty. “This first PET biorecycling summit allowed us to explore the scientific advances in the field of enzymatic recycling and challenge ourselves to go further, faster with the support of an international network of experts,” commented Dr Marty.
Carbios and Salomon entered into a two-year partnership to accelerate the former’s technologies alongside athletic and outdoor brands On, Puma and Patagonia this past summer. It also joined a public-private consortium of 17 European bodies from France, Spain, Germany, Norway and Turkey in July, which will work to develop new ways to sort and recycle PET textiles as part of a project known as WhiteCycle.
“The success of our industrialisation model is based on our ability to forge strategic partnerships,” added the biorecycler’s chief executive, Emmanuel Ladent. “I am honoured that so many delegates were present for our first PET biorecycling summit, as I am convinced that we can reach a truly circular economy with biological recycling only if academics and industry work hand in hand.”
More than 100 people participated in the conference in total, including scientific researchers from 10 countries.
Read our feature on Carbios, its methods and the company’s Clemont-Ferrand demonstration plant, which opened in September 2021, in our WSA features section here.
Image: Carbios.
