It’s official: Carbios is bringing its plastic-eating, enzymatic recycling process to Asia.
The French biotechnology firm and Wankai New Materials inked the shareholders’ agreement on Dec. 2, meaning that construction for their joint venture “dedicated to the construction and operation of a first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) biorecycling plant in China” can commence.
Since sealing the strategic deal, shares in the Parisian green chemistry company were up more than 25 percent on the Euronext Growth Paris stock market, closing at 11.50 euros ($13.37).
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“The signing of this agreement marks the achievement of a major strategic partnership with Zhink Group,” said Vincent Kamel, CEO of Carbios. “We are taking a decisive step forward to accelerate the international deployment of our technology, a key innovation in the fight against plastic pollution. This is a major milestone in bringing our licensing model to life: together, we will help build a more sustainable future.”
The joint venture will begin from the ground up: actually building the China-based biorecycling plant, as outfitted with the next-gen company’s proprietary technology that allows for the “infinite recycling” of PET. The definitive agreement follows the Nov. 6 commitment signed by the French firm and Wankai, a listed subsidiary of Zhink Group—otherwise known as the third largest PET producer in China and fourth worldwide.
This, essentially, solidified the even-earlier idea (in the works since last June) to collaborate by formally establishing the strategic partnership’s baseline. It’s also when the prospective partners reached a binding agreement for the main principles of their strategic collaboration: The plant would be capable of deploying a minimum annual processing capacity of 50,000 metric tons of prepared PET waste per year.
During the Dec. 2 signing, Carbios and Wankai also approved the joint venture’s license agreement, which Carbios will grant upon its incorporation. The cleantech company committed to a long-term partnership with Wankai: exclusively licensing its PET depolymerization technology to the subsidiary in Asia for three years—subject to signing licenses with the latter for at least 100 kilotons (100,000 metric tons) per year of additional capacity. This term will be extended in five-year increments if additional licenses for at least 200 kilotons (200,000 metric tons) per year of extra capacity are signed. The added ambition is to build and operate several other PET biorecycling plants in Asia.
For reference, Unifi’s combined processing capacity for its Repreve recycling centers in North Carolina is 175 million pounds per year; its Yadkinville center has a capacity of 100 million pounds, while its Reidsville center has a capacity of 75 million pounds, according to the vertically-integrated manufacturer of recycled and synthetic fibers.
For context: Carbios’ biorecycling process uses an enzyme capable of selectively extracting the polyester, recovering it to recreate a virgin fiber. This technology makes it possible to recover the PET polyester present in all textile waste that cannot be recycled using traditional technologies.
This enzymatic biodegradation process is what makes polylactic acid (PLA) completely compostable, regardless of temperature—something of an issue in the past, per the Puma partner. The Carbios Active solution is what allows plastic packaging waste made from PLA (like coffee capsules and e-commerce polybags) to be collected alongside bio-waste; the soil-friendly output can be recovered via composting—both industrially (over a period of 3-6 months, give or take) and domestically (some hundreds or thousands of years) and, alternatively, through methanization: the process of decomposing organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas.
The wider agreement also saw Wankai agree to undertake participation in a 5-million-euro ($5.83 million) capital increase in Carbios by next June. The shares will be priced at 8.09 euros ($9.44) a pop.
Built to bring Carbios’s enzymatic depolymerization technology to the Asian market, the PET biorecycling plan will be located on a site, provided by Wankai, in Haining, a county-level city in the Zhejiang Province of China. The site is already equipped with infrastructure, per the partners, thus reducing the investment cost. Construction is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2026. Commissioning is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
While headquartered in Hangzhou City, Zhink Group has four subsidiaries based out of Haining City—Wankai, as well as Pukai New Materials, Kaipuqi and Lingyu Zhicheng.
China is arguably the world’s largest PET producer; in 2021, 58 percent of the global recycled PET consumption was in Asia; China comprised 38 percent, per the June 2024 statement. Representing 61 percent of global production, the region produces 67 million tons of the popular plastic produced annually, representing 61 percent of international outputs. And, given growing demand for rPET across both the regional and global markets, China has the potential to take the lead in rPET production, Carbios said last June during the initial discussions.
For background: Carbios opened the doors to its demonstration plant within France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region: the city and commune of Clermont-Ferrand, in 2021. Here, its patented, automated line transitions textile waste, used garments or cutting scraps, into raw material for its proprietary depolymerization process. In 2022, the company founded a consortium aimed at developing recycling and circularity-focused solutions with companies like On Running, Puma and Salomon; PVH Corp. joined shortly thereafter, the following January.
Taking the next step toward industrializing its plastic re-engineering process, Carbios joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s network for circularity leaders in March 2023. Around the same time—if not slightly earlier—Carbios teamed with Indorama Ventures, a Thai petrochemical company, to build its next facility in France; though this one would be some 400 miles southeast of its demo plant. Located in Longlaville, the plant was to be built on a 13.7-acre slice of Indorama’s existing PET plant site, acquired by Carbios for this purpose—not to mention double its current capacity.
It’s worth noting that Longlaville is in France’s Grand-Est region, at the border with Luxembourg and Germany—where the supply was projected to reach up to 400,000 tons in 2023 and, with improved collection, potentially hit 500,000 tons by 2030. Construction was to begin by the end of 2023 and be operational by 2025, eventually scaling up to a yearly output of 50,000 tons of bio-recycled PET.
In November 2023, Carbios and Indorama got the green light to build what was billed as the world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant. But by next December, Carbios pumped the brakes—putting the plant’s construction on hold for an anticipated six to nine months, pending an influx of additional financing.
After reporting a cash position of 112 million euros (around $130.2 million) the month prior, Carbios said the pause was caused by delayed funding, pending completion of additional financing under satisfactory conditions. At the time, Carbios said it hoped to finalize this non-dilutive financing as quickly as possible to resume construction and bring the plant online by 2027.
