Carbios is a French company in the field of biochemistry. It holds a number of patents in various countries.[1] One of Carbios' notable inventions is an industrial application of enzymes that can render PET plastic waste compostable.[2]
The company is based on the Cataroux campus in Clermont-Ferrand. One of their partners is the INSA Toulouse (National Institute for Applied Sciences).[3]
History
Carbios was founded in 2011. Since 2013 it has been listed at the stock index Euronext Growth, a subsidiary of Euronext.[4]
On January 19, 2019, Carbios announced a partnership with Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB) as a new investor.
In April 2020 Carbios gained attention due to an article in Nature which explained how a hydrolase enzyme designed by Carbios enabled the recycling of 90% of all PET plastic waste within 10 hours.[5][6] Following this development a number of big companies such as PepsiCo and Nestle became partners.[7][8] Carbios has partnered with major French companies, including cosmetics giant L'Oréal, food manufacturer Nestlé, and outdoor gear brand Salomon, to recycle their plastic waste.[9]
Emmanuel Ladent, the CEO of Carbios, said the company's plastic recycling process currently produces 51% less emissions than manufacturing new plastic.[9]
In 2023, Carbios had a capacity to recycle around 250kg of plastic per day. In 2025, the company plans to open a much larger facility near the France-Belgium border that will have the capacity to recycle over 130 tons of plastic per day. [9]
Main Stockholders
Source: [10]
Structure
Carbios runs three departments, all based on their application of enzymes:
In order to pursue the further development concerning biodegradation, Carbios has founded the subsidiary Carbiolice, which is a joint-venture with Limagrain and Novozymes.[12]
- General biodegradation
- Depolymerization of plastic waste[11]
- Biotechnology for the production of plastic from biological ingredients such as lactic acid.
External links
References
- Carbios Significantly Strengthened Its International Patent Portfolio Barron's, January 14, 2021, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- A huge step forward. Mutant enzyme could vastly improve recycling of PET plastic bottles American Association for the Advancement of Science, April 8, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Scientists create mutant enzyme that recycles plastic bottles in hours The Guardian, April 8, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Turning Plastic Waste into a Profit waste360.com, January 21, 2021, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- V. Tournier, C. M. Topham, A. Gilles, B. David, C. Folgoas, E. Moya-Leclair, E. Kamionka, M.-L. Desrousseaux. An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles Nature, April 8, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Carbios, a French green chemistry company, publishes an article on its PET enzymatic recycling technology in the scientific magazine Nature plasticethics.com, April 30, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Why PepsiCo, L'Oreal and Nestle are banking on this French plastics recycling startup greenbiz.com, May 7, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- L'ORÉAL and CARBIOS sign agreement to jointly found consortium for bio-recycling of plastic on industrial scale L'Oréal, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Stephen Buranyi. 'We are just getting started': the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world The Guardian, 2023-09-28, retrieved 2023-10-21^
- 2022 Universal Registration Document (English version) May 17, 2023^
- PET Recycling Using Enzymes: Carbios Reports Progress packaging-360.com, retrieved January 21, 2020^
- Carbolice enzyme additiv makes PLA packaging compostable luxepackaginginsight.com, April 28, 2020, retrieved January 21, 2020^