Retired Member
Currently, PET bottles, normally coded with the identification code number ‘1’ inside a recycling symbol on the bottom of the container, can be shredded and used to make lower grade products, such as carpets, Addidas shoes, and graduations gowns, but to make a food grade plastic, the bottles need to be hydrolyzed down to monomers, and then purified—which is exactly what Carbios does in a process they describe as an infinite loop.
To this end, in February 2019, Carbios announced it had successfully produced the first PET-bottles made with 100% Purified Terephthalic Acid, the organic compound used to make PET packaging and products, through the enzymatic recycling of plastic waste. This major milestone is a world-first and confirms the potential of the company’s technology to engage the whole industry in a responsible transition towards a circular economy.
The company says its enzyme process uses lower temperatures than other new tech, which use biological processes to break down plastic, which reduces energy consumption—and it doesn’t use solvents.