Carbios and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles have signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of polyester textiles to the world’s first PET biorecycling plant currently under construction in Longlaville, France.

The polyester textiles supplied will come from used or end-of-life textiles prepared in France by Nouvelles Fibres Textiles for recycling using the enzymatic depolymerization technology of Carbios.

This aim is to enable 5,000 tons a year of these textiles to be redirected towards biorecycling from 2026 onwards, over an initial five-year period.

Nouvelles Fibres Textiles and its various partners opened a unique semi-industrial site with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons in November 2023, as the the first step towards building a 20,000-to-30,000-ton unit in 2026.

This first site, a research centre for textile recycling, combines the know-how of Andritz Laroche, Pellenc ST, Synergie TLC and the Tissages de Charlieu group. The unit transforms used textiles into high-quality raw materials, supplying the various industries that use textile fibres, primarily nonwovens, by automatically sorting them by composition, while eliminating buttons, zips, patches etc.

Carbios biorecycling technology uses enzymes to break down polyester fibes into their basic components. These components are then used to produce high-quality recycled PET materials, such as fibers for the textile industry. This fibre-to-fibre solution will enable polyester to become a truly circular fiber on a large scale.

“As demonstrated in the packaging sector, the introduction of large-scale polyester recycling solutions will catalyze the structuring of collection and preparation infrastructures,” said Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios. “Together, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles and Carbios demonstrate that the French industry continues to develop, thanks to the complementary links in the value chain, from collection and preparation to recycling.”

www.carbios.com

www.nouvellesfibrestextiles.com