Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Suntory debut world’s first enzymatically recycled bottles

A consortium that includes Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Suntory has produced the world’s first food-grade PET plastic bottles from enzymatically recycled plastic using Carbios’ recycling process.

The bottles that have been produced are for such products as Perrier, Pepsi Max, and Orangina.

The consortium also includes Carbios and L’Oreal.

The production of the bottles is a major milestone that validates Carbios’ technology, which supercharges enzymes that occur in compost heaps and break down leaf membranes.

It took Carbios nearly ten years of research to develop its enzymatic recycling process.

Carbios has now ‘fine-tuned’ the technology and optimized the enzyme to break down any kind of plastic, regardless of color or complexity, into individual chemical components.

It takes 16 hours to break down 97 percent of plastic.

To accelerate the adoption of enzymatic recycling of all kinds of PET-based products, Carbios will license its technology worldwide.

The industrial chemistry firm will also break ground on a demonstration plant in September, before launching a 40,000 tonnes capacity industrial facility by 2025.

Jean Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios, describes their innovation as transformational as it finally fully closes the loop on PET plastic supply globally so that it never becomes a waste.

He added that they have proved the viability of their enzymatic recycling process with the world’s leading brands.

Michelle Norman, director of external affairs and sustainability, Suntory Beverage and Food Great Britain & Ireland, said that the process ensures that plastic stays in circulation and out of the environment, which is what they’re striving for.