Carbios, a pioneer in the development of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the end-of-life of plastic, announced its operating and financial results for the year 2021. As of December 31, 2021, Cash and cash equivalents amounted to €105 million, including €100,9 million for Carbios, as compared to €29,1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

and the Grand-Est Region: site selected in France in partnership with Indorama Ventures, world leader in the production recycled PET.

“In 2021, Carbios achieved several technical and industrial milestones testifying of the soundness and successful execution of our strategy. The excellent results obtained from our demonstration plant confirms the industrial scale-up potential of our biological technology for the recycling of PET plastics and fibers. Together with our Consortium members, we also produced the world’s first food-grade PET sample bottles produced entirely from enzymatically recycled plastics; a world first. In addition, we have strengthened our financial structure by raising a landmark €114 million in May 2021 and we have taken full control of Carbiolice in June. In line with our objectives and with a strong financial support from the French Government and the Grand-Est Region, we will soon enable France to host the world’s first industrial facility dedicated to the biological recycling of plastics. Carbios’ enzymatic process will make it possible to recycle more than 50,000 tons of PET plastic waste per year,” comments Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios.

“Our priority for 2022 is to finalize the terms of our partnership with Indorama Ventures, which will host the world’s first industrial facility operating our biological recycling process at its French production site in Longlaville. This year will also be about optimizing our commercial strategy, while continuing our innovation efforts on the end-of-life of other polymers.”

In April 202, Carbios announced a plan to build its first manufacturing Unit exploiting its C-ZYME™ technology for fully bio-recycled PET.

In February 2022, the company and Indorama Ventures announced a collaboration to build the world’s first 100 % biorecycling plant in France. This industrial Unit, which will be based in Longlaville, should be operational in 2025[5], creating 150 direct and indirect jobs. Its processing capacity is estimated at 50,000 tons of waste per year, equivalent to 2 billion bottles.

In September 2021, Carbios announced the operational start-up of its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand. This pre-industrial facility, equipped with a 20,000-liter hydrolysis reactor capable of treating 2 tons of PET waste in less than 24 hours (the equivalent of 100,000 bottles), represents the final stage of development of the process and prefigures the design of future industrial units. By the end of 2022, Carbios intends to finalize the complete engineering documentation of its enzymatic recycling process (PDP: Process Design Package), which should enable the construction of its first production unit, as well as future plants operated under license. With regards to the core of Carbios’ process, more than 10 batches of depolymerization of PET waste have been carried out at the demonstration facility with an excellent productivity showing depolymerization kinetics and yields identical to those achieved in the Pilot facility. 

In June 2021, Carbios and its partners within its PET Consortium – L’Oréal, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo et Suntory Beverage & Food Europe – announced the successful production of the first samples of food grade PET plastic bottles produced entirely from enzymatically recycled plastic, a world first. Based on the use of Carbios’ enzymatic PET recycling technology, each Consortium company has successfully manufactured sample bottles for some of their leading products including: Biotherm, Perrier®, Pepsi Max® and Orangina.