Carbios and Tomra Textiles will collaborate to close the loop on textile circularity: from textile waste collection to innovative technologies that enable textile-to-textile recycling

Carbios, pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastics and textiles, and Tomra Textiles, a technology company created by the leader in sorting technology Tomra, announces the signing of a collaboration agreement for the establishment of an efficient collection sector in Northern Europe , sorting and preparing textile waste until recycling using Carbios enzymatic depolymerization technology in its first commercial plant being built in Longlaville, France .

The resulting monomers will be used to produce recycled polyester fibers (r-PET), thus closing the loop on the circularity of polyester textiles.

Innovations from Tomra Textiles and Carbios help fill critical gaps in the value chain and significantly increase the textile-to-textile recycling rate, which is currently 1%. By accelerating the circular economy of polyester, a sustainable alternative to incineration or landfill is possible.

Tomra Textiles' mission is to overcome the obstacles that prevent textile circularity, by contributing to the design and scale-up of textile sorting plants. As part of the partnership agreement, Tomra  Textiles will explore specific and tangible measures to enable the preparation of post-consumer polyester waste for biorecycling according to Carbios specifications.