Carbios is a pioneer in the field of bioplasturgy and its resources and expertise will help L’Oréal in its aims to sustainably manage waste and ensure an optimal plastic life cycle.
The agreement will see L’Oréal and Carbios jointly found a five-year consortium to bring the bio-recycling technology designed by Carbios to market. The consortium also extends the invitation to industries from other sectors who are also looking to develop new bio-cycling solutions.
Making plastic recycling on an industrial scale
“L’Oréal has been committed to an ambitious sustainable packaging programme for several years now. We currently use up to 100% recycled plastic for several different products,” said L’Oréal Packaging & Development Vice-President Philippe Thuvien.
“We’ve decided to go even further: with this innovative Carbios technology, L’Oréal is helping to make bio-recycling available on an industrial scale. It’s a wonderful opportunity to protect the environment, and this consortium will also help boost the circular economy.”
Carbios has developed an enzymatic bio-recycling process for plastics that breaks polymers down to the basic components that were originally used to manufacture them.
Ensuring quality and effectiveness
This means that once separated and purified, the monomers can then be used again to recreate virgin plastics, without impacting its efficacy or quality.
Carbios also claims that the biological process used in the recycling is also free of the constraints facing other similar processes, and is a step towards contributing significantly to the circular economy that many recycling and environment schemes uphold.
L’Oréal and any other company or industry that joins the consortium will be able to benefit from the Carbios advancements in plastics recycling through dedicated units designed for the process.
L’Oréal and other companies joining the consortium will be able to benefit from the by incorporating it into their new design phases for packaging.