Carbios and French luxury cosmetic brand L’occitane en Provence have launched a shower oil bottle made from 100% enzymatically recycled PET.
The bottle’s production value chain was fully based in Europe. PET waste consisting of coloured bottles, multilayer trays, and mechanical recycling residues were collected, sorted, and prepared for enzymatic recycling at Carbios’ demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Carbios depolymerised the PET waste into its original monomers, PTA and MEG, using its biorecycling technology. The resulting monomers were then re polymerized into 100% recycled PET resins. Pinard Beauty Pack then blow-moulded the resins into bottles according to L’occitane’s specifications.
The partners said this European approach to bottle production ‘optimises 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’.
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%,” said the company’s CEO Emmanuel Ladent. “But to create an efficient recycling sector, all players in the value chain have their part to play, and must work together.”
Carbios opened its PET enzymatic recycling demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand back in 2021. It is currently building a 50,000 tonnes/year plant at Longlaville, France, totted as the world’s first PET biorecycling plant. The facility is expected to start production in 2026.