L'Oréal and Carbios to found consortium for biorecycling

French company Carbios, a developer of an enzymatic processes to recycle plastics, and Paris-based beauty brand L'Oréal have partnered to found a five-year consortium that will bring Carbios’ technology to market on an industrial scale. The partnership also is open to industries from other sectors looking to develop new plastic biorecycling solutions.

Carbios has developed an enzymatic biorecycling process for plastics that breaks down polymers to the basic components (monomers) originally used to create them. Once separated and purified, the monomers can be used again to create virgin plastic, without losing any value through the recycling process, according to the company.

L'OréaL and the other manufacturers in the consortium will benefit from the development of this innovation and will be first in line to receive the first available units. L'Oréal will use this new technology during the design phase for new packaging, thereby promoting the circular economy. 

“L'Oréal has been committed to an ambitious sustainable packaging program for several years now,” says L'oréal Packaging & Development Vice President Philippe Thuvien. “We currently use up to 100-percent-recycled plastic for several different products. We've decided to go even further: with this innovative Carbios technology, L'Oréal is helping to make biorecycling 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 CEO Jean-Claude Lumaret says, “We are proud to have cofounded this consortium with L'Oréal. Our enzyme technology provides a brand new solution for optimizing the performance and life cycle of plastics. L'Oréal's commitment to sustainable development helps drive innovation, and we are confident that other international companies will join the project in the coming months to help us initiate a major transition in the way we produce the plastic materials of tomorrow.”