Carbios, a France-based plastic recycling technology provider, has received a grant worth about 3 million euros (or about $3.38 million) from the European Union’s LIFE program. Carbios’ partners T.EN Zimmer GmbH and Deloitte also will receive funding from the program. Through the partnership, T.EN Zimmer GmbH will provide its expertise on monomer repolymerization in 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Deloitte will conduct an environmental performance analysis of the process for plastic and textile waste.

According to a news release from Carbios, the European LIFE program is a grants tool in the EU that supports solutions with low environmental impact. Carbios’ C-Zyme technology complies with the European Commission’s goals, qualifying it for the grant. The company launched an industrial demonstration plant for its enzymatic recycling technology in France earlier this year.

Carbios reports that its technology can recycle all types of PET scrap without loss of quality. Its C-Zyme recycling process uses an enzyme capable of depolymerizing PET. Those depolymerized monomers are then purified before being repolymerized into PET of comparable quality to virgin PET.

The company says its technology should fulfill both the European Union’s requirements and large companies’ sustainability goals.

“We were able to demonstrate the significant deployment capacity of our enzymatic PET recycling technology by bringing our industrial demonstration unit into operation in September 2021. The grant will help fund the development of trials on plastic and textile waste at the demonstration plant, which will help confirm the process’ scaleup and lead to the commercialization of our technology through licensing,” says Kader Hidra, Carbios’ chief financial officer.

Atlanta-based WestRock is facing nearly $140,000 in fines after one of its paper mill workers died and more than a dozen machine operators got sick with COVID-19 in March and April of this year. The infections occurred at the company’s paper mill in Longview, Washington, which it had acquired from KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. in 2018.

According to a news release from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, 15 workers who worked at the same machine at the company’s paper mill in Longview, Washington, tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 15 workers, one died, and two others were hospitalized from complications due to the virus. The state’s Department of Labor & Industries says it was not notified of the death or the hospitalizations, which is a requirement for workplaces in that state.

According to the department, a formal complaint was filed with the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission under the Washington State Department of Health due to concerns about the company’s actions related to the March and April infections. In total, the department fined WestRock $139,832 for not following COVID-19 protocols earlier this year and for failing to report a death and hospitalizations to the state.

WestRock has appealed the citation, and money from fines is placed in the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.

Aurubis AG of Hamburg, Germany, and the SMS Group of Dusseldorf, Germany, have signed a contract for the construction of Aurubis Richmond, a multimetal recycling plant in Georgia.

The site will process circuit boards, copper cable and other materials containing metals will into 35,000 metric tons of blister copper annually, the company says. Aurubis will further process the intermediate products into various industrial and precious metals at its European smelter sites and also will sell them directly in the U.S.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has partnered with Malaysia-based Heng Hiap Industries Sdn Bhd (HHI) to create certified circular polymers produced through the advanced recycling of recovered mixed and used ocean-bound plastic.

SABIC reports that the certified circular polyolefins from ocean-bound plastic from the company’s Trucircle portfolio of solutions will be used by its customers in new products over the coming months. SABIC’s Trucircle portfolio features mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from advanced recycling of used plastic and certified renewables products from bio-based feedstock.

According to a news release from SABIC, the ocean-bound plastics for this partnership are being recovered from ocean-feeding waterways and inland areas within a 50-kilometer radius of the ocean by HHI partners predominantly in Malaysia. That material is sent to HHI for it to convert the used plastic into pyrolysis oil through advanced recycling methods. SABIC says it will use that pyrolysis oil in its production process to make certified circular polymers. The company states that this material has been certified under the Zero Plastic Oceans accreditation.

“We are acutely aware of the challenges we face globally to stop plastic from becoming waste. Developing an entirely circular recycling system is a huge but necessary step we need to take together and will require all players across the value chain to collaborate. That’s why we’re committed to developing long-term solutions and working with new partners like HHI to significantly upscale the production of more sustainable materials, including those produced using recycled ocean-bound materials, for the benefit of our customers, society and the environment,” says Abdullah Al-Otaibi, general manager of ETP & Market Solutions at SABIC.

HHI is focused on collecting ocean-bound plastic through its network, converting that material into high-quality materials, collaborating with partners to create new products, providing customers with a platform to champion their use of sustainable materials and encouraging consumers to use sustainable materials.

“At HHI, our circular economy model helps to guide us in all of our endeavors, from business planning and collaborations with partners such as SABIC to eco-initiatives, as we strive to protect our ocean and communities. We believe that we have the ability to work towards a cleaner future that views plastic as a valuable resource to keep within the value chain,” says Kian Seah, CEO of HHI. “We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far with SABIC but also realize that we are early into our journey towards enabling a circular economy, and it is by no means a straightforward one. Our common spirit and passion has helped us overcome significant challenges to make this innovative process a reality and to ensure the reliability of technologies, quality of the end material and viability of the circular consumption model.”