Months after breaking ground on the world’s first PET depolymerisation plant in France, Carbios announced plans to enter the Turkish market.
The French biochemistry company has signed a Letter of Intent with Sasa, a Turkey-based polyester manufacturer, to build a plant with 100,000 tonnes/year processing capacity in Adana, Turkey.
Sasa is considering purchasing a licence for Carbios’ PET biorecycling technology. The manufacturer of polyester, fibre, filament yarn, and polyester-based polymers intends to produce polyester pellets, fibres, and textiles from various waste sources, including polyester textile waste, using the technology.
Turkey is one of the world’s largest polyester producers, behind countries like China, India, and the United States. Sasa said it wants to leverage Carbio’s technology to diversify its portfolio to meet the growing global demand for sustainable materials in the textile industry, primarily catering to the European market.
In the European Union, separate collection of textile waste will be mandatory in member states from Jan. 1, 2025. The EU’s strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to ensure that textile products are largely made from recycled fibres and that incineration and landfill are reduced to a minimum by 2030.
“With the creation of a major PET yarn and fibre manufacturing capacity on a European scale, we believe Turkey will play a pivotal role in the expanding textile market,” said Carbio’s CEO Emmanuel Ladent. “Partnering with Sasa, a leader in polyester production, is a natural fit for Carbios’ international ambitions for licencing our biorecycling technology, and will contribute to a more circular and sustainable textile industry.”
Carbios’ enzymatic depolymerisation process enables the efficient and solvent-free recycling of PET plastic and textile waste into virgin-equivalent products. Its plant in Longlaville, France, is likely to serve as a blueprint for its Turkish counterpart. The European plant will also process about 50,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET waste per year, equivalent to 2 billion PET coloured bottles or 2.5 billion PET trays. The plot on which the plant is being built also offers space to expand the capacity in the future. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2026.