Carbios has obtained the building permit and operating authorisation it requires to start construction of what will be the ‘world's first PET biorecycling plant’ at Longlaville, in the Grand-Est region on a 13.7-hectare site adjacent to the existing PET production plant of Indorama Ventures, its strategic partner. Carbios officially acquired the land from Indorama Ventures in September 2023. Once fully operational, the plant will have a processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes of PET waste - or the equivalent of 2 billion coloured PET bottles or 2.5 billion PET food trays that are currently unable to recycled mechanically - based on Carbios’ industrial-scale enzymatic recycling solution for PET waste. The project will generate some 150 jobs. The size of the acquired site allows for a potential capacity doubling in the future.
The permit and authorisation were secured in line with the planning of the project, said Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios. "Everything is now in place so that construction of our plant can officially begin! We would like to thank the French State and the Municipality of Longlaville for their support throughout the administrative procedure and for their commitment in issuing the operating and building permits in 10 months."
The plant is designed to maximise circularity, while minimising its environmental footprint, especially in terms of energy consumption. Care is also being taken to optimise water use by installing water recycling facilities.
Located near the borders with Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg, the plant's location is strategic for nearby waste supply. Carbios and Indorama Ventures will collaborate to ensure the feedstock supply of the Longlaville plant, located in a geographical area where the supply potential could reach 400,000 tons in 2023, and up to 500,000 tons in 2030 with improved selective collection. Carbios has already secured an initial supply source by winning part of the CITEO tender for the biorecycling of multilayer food trays. Indorama will ensure 100% of output repolymerisation.
Lionel Arras, Director of Industrial Development, said he was ‘very proud’ of the achievements of the Carbios teams. “With more than 80 engineers involved, both internally and externally, it is a tremendous team effort with our goal of commissioning in 2025 on track."
In July 2023, Carbios successfully completed its capital increase for approximately €141 million, the largest capital increase on Euronext Growth since 2015. This amount is mainly intended to finance the construction of this plant, for which the total investment is estimated at around €230 million. The portion of the investment not funded by the proceeds from the July 2023 capital increase is expected to be covered by Indorama Ventures, which plans to mobilise approximately €110 million for this project; French state subsidies of €30 million, and €12.5 million from the Grand-Est Region, as well as a portion of Carbios Group's available cash, which amounted to €78 million as of 30 June 2023.