Joint venture seeks innovative plastic recycling technologies in Europe.
Carbios, a research firm involved in developing technologies to recover plastic scrap and produce bio-polymers, has signed an agreement with Suez Environnement to work together on a project to recover and recycle greater amounts of plastic scrap from throughout Europe.
In the preliminary phase of the arrangement, Suez Environnement will deliver to Carbios a range of plastic scrap from various locations via its subsidiary SITA France.
Carbios reports that it will explore plastic waste composition in order to enrich its range of biological tools and expand the potential of plastic waste recovery as well as its plastics recycling efforts.
According to Suez, the goal of the joint venture is to implement the most effective processes to decompose plastic scrap and collect its basic component, the polymer, as a petroleum-based product. This recycling process will allow for avoiding chemical and mechanical constraints typically encountered in conventional recycling processes.
“We are delighted that Suez Environnement has placed its trust in us. This strengthens the strategic positioning of our innovative biological processes in the field of plastic waste recovery, as developed under the Thanaplast project,” says Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios. “The combination of our expertise will accelerate the implementation of effective industrial solutions to the major environmental challenge posed by end-of-life plastic and provide an answer to this question: How can we recover and recycle more and more plastic waste with as little environmental impact as possible?”
“Innovation lies at the very heart of Suez Environnement’s strategy, which accompanies young and promising companies like Carbios. Waste management is a major component of circular economy. It requires an effective process of resources and recovered products into secondary raw materials,” says Paul-Joël Derian, Suez’s deputy director of Innovation and Industrial Performance. “Suez has always sought, through its subsidiaries, to partner with complementary expertise to carry out its projects and remain a pioneer in its key domains – collecting and recycling.”
“Carbios enzymatic processes seem particularly interesting and promising to us, as they will allow better recycling and recovery of end-of-life plastic waste while respecting the environment,” Derian continues.