CLERMONT-FERRAND – Bioplastics firm Carbios has made a breakthrough with its unique approach to material recycling, as it’s announced the successful production of plastic bottles from textile waste.
Two years ago, Ecotextile News covered news from the French firm that it had further developed its process – which breaks down PET into its core monomers to be upcycled into virgin-grade material once more – and was exploring new pathways to recycle polyester and potentially provide new solutions to upcycling polyesters without the use of raw materials derived from fossil fuels.
It says this has now become a reality, suggesting vast quantities of polyester-based textiles – that might typically be sent to landfill – could feasibly be recycled into plastic bottles. This is said to work both ways too, meaning greater sums of infinitely recyclable polyester made from PET bottles could be fed into the textile supply chain.