CARBIOS and L’OCCITANE en Provence Develop PET Bottle from Enzymatic Recycling (2024)

Exemplifies Desire to Build an Efficient European Recycling Sector

In collaboration with converter Pinard Beauty Pack, this bottle exemplifies a shared desire to build an efficient European recycling sector. This is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastic, and meet brands' commitments for more sustainable packaging solutions. The bottle was displayed at CARBIOS’ Stand D02 at “Edition Spéciale” by LuxePack. It is a trade show dedicated to sustainable premium packaging. It was held on 4-5 June 2024 at the Carreau du Temple in Paris.

The 100% recycled PET bottle from CARBIOS' enzymatic depolymerization process was made with a European value chain committed to responsible consumption of sustainable materials.

The bottle’s production began with the local supply of PET waste (already collected, sorted and prepared) to the CARBIOS industrial demonstrator in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The waste used consisted of colored bottles, multilayer trays and mechanical recycling residues, none of which are currently recycled using conventional technologies.

Reduces Transport Distances and Integrates Local Processes

CARBIOS deconstructed the PET waste into its original monomers, PTA[1] and MEG[2], using its biorecycling technology. The resulting monomers were then repolymerized into new, fully recycled PET resins within Europe. In Oyonnax, France, these resins were blow-molded by Pinard Beauty Pack to create bottles according to L’OCCITANE’s specifications, and then filled with its shower oil at its Manosque plant.

Understand how you can improve the quality of recycled PET consistently and reliably to meet the increased demand in volume.

This European approach optimizes the environmental benefits of the technology and the life cycle analysis (LCA) of each product, by reducing transport distances and integrating local collection and production processes. To meet the needs of international brands, similar chains will have to be established worldwide, drawing inspiration from this example.

[1] Purified Terephthalic Acid

[2] Monoethylene Glycol

100% Recycled Content PET for Retail Bottles by 2027

"CARBIOS' innovation accelerates the transition to a circular economy by offering an alternative to petro-sourced PET and a circular PET recycling solution that reduces CO₂ emissions by 57%. But to create an efficient recycling sector, all players in the value chain have their part to play, and must work together. The long-term partnership between CARBIOS and L’OCCITANE is testament of this shared desire to promote more responsible consumption. The bottle produced with L'OCCITANE and its converter Pinard illustrates how the industry is moving forward," Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of CARBIOS.

"At L'OCCITANE en Provence, we're Cultivators of Change, and we're proud to be part of this forward-looking industry. Today, just over 50% of our PET material is from recycled origin. Thanks in particular to CARBIOS and depolymerization technologies, we will be able to reach 100% by 2027 for all our retail bottles. We are very satisfied with the quality of the bottle produced in collaboration with CARBIOS and Pinard, which enables us to reduce our reliance on fossil-based plastic and offers a viable alternative with equivalent quality and transparency, which is important to showcase our products," David Bayard, R&D packaging director, L’OCCITANE.

"At Pinard, we are delighted to have reached this new milestone and to be associated with the production of L'OCCITANE en Provence’s first bottle using CARBIOS’ revolutionary technology. This bottle was blow-molded under the same conditions and with the same parameters as virgin or mechanically recycled PET, a considerable advantage for the deployment of CARBIOS’ technology. We're seeing strong demand for high-quality recycled PET which can be used to produce the same applications as with virgin PET," Paolo Coelho, Plant director, Pinard Beauty Pack.

Can Handle All Types of PET Waste

Recent life-cycle analyses[1] show a 57% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to virgin plastic production[2], and for every tonne of recycled PET produced, 1.3 tonnes of oil are avoided. Compared with conventional recycling, enzymatic recycling is 5 times more circular (calculated according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Material Circularity Indicator[3]).

Thanks to its highly selective enzyme, optimized for efficient PET degradation, CARBIOS' depolymerization technology can handle all types of PET waste, including colored, multilayer or textile waste that cannot be recycled with current technologies. CARBIOS’ technology therefore complements mechanical recycling technologies. Furthermore, the two monomers produced (PTA and MEG) make it possible to recreate recycled PET products suitable for food contact and of identical quality to those of petroleum origin.

[1] Database ecoinvent 3.8

[2] French scenario, taking into account the detour of 50% of PET waste from conventional end-of-life. Virgin PET: 2.53 kg CO₂/kg (cradle to gate)

[3] The Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is a methodology developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to measure how restorative the material flows are. The MCI gives a value between 0 and 1 where higher values indicate a higher circularity. The MCI value for CARBIOS’ enzymatic recycling is 0.8.

Source: CARBIOS