#84: Closing the Loop with Plastic Waste with Enzyme Recycling

Hello Earthlings! This week on Earthlings 2.0, we explore an exciting breakthrough in recycling with Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios, a French biotech company that’s revolutionizing how we handle plastic waste. As the world grapples with plastic pollution, Carbios has developed a game-changing enzymatic process that breaks down PET plastics and textiles to their base components, allowing for high-quality recycling without losing material integrity. Emmanuel explains how this biological solution is different from traditional methods and how it could provide a truly circular solution to the plastics and textile industries, paving the way for sustainable, waste-free production.

We also discuss how Carbios is helping the fashion industry transition from linear to circular, addressing the challenge of microplastics and waste in apparel. Through partnerships with global brands like L'Oréal, Nestlé, and PepsiCo, Carbios is making strides in creating closed-loop systems for plastic and textile waste, ensuring that materials are recycled back into products of the same quality as new ones. Emmanuel highlights how this technology could have a profound impact on reducing CO2 emissions and promoting sustainability in various industries.

Key Points:

• Enzymatic Recycling Technology: Carbios uses a natural enzyme optimized to break down PET plastics and textiles into their basic components in just a few hours, offering a faster and more sustainable alternative to chemical recycling methods.
• High-Quality, Circular Recycling: Unlike traditional methods, Carbios’ process ensures that recycled materials are of the same quality as virgin plastic, creating a closed-loop system where plastics and textiles can be recycled repeatedly without losing quality.
• Sustainability and CO2 Reduction: The enzymatic process requires lower energy consumption compared to traditional recycling and offers a significant 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to virgin plastic production, making it a sustainable solution.
• Broad Industry Impact: Carbios is working with leading brands in cosmetics, food, and apparel to implement its technology, helping industries transition to a circular economy by recycling polyester and PET waste into high-quality, reusable materials.

Voices on The Show: 

• Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios
• LinkedIn
• Lisa Ann Pinkerton, Earthlings 2.0 Host, CEO of Technica Communications, and Founder of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability 
• LinkedIn: Lisa Ann Pinkerton
• X - Lisa Ann Pinkerton 
• Instagram - @LisiAnni
• Technica Communications 
• Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

Web Resources:

• Carbios 
• LinkedIn

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