executive desk

Plastic office furniture will be less expensive thanks to a new recycling technology

Of the 25 million tons of plastic waste generated each year in Europe, only 25% are recycled, according to the European Commission. To put an end to this mess, the French start-up of green chemistry Carbios confirms having already identified the first biological catalysts that have the potential to degrade the ten most used plastics in the world, such as polyethylene terephthalate polymers (PET) for bottles. “This toolkit we enrich is the foundation of our future developments and provides the basis for the development of our industrial bioprocesses,” says Jean-Claude Lumaret, Carbios CEO. “We proved that we can make plastics that autodestruct and we can be confident, because the green revolution we promised in this sector is on.”

“This major breakthrough will allow us to enter into pre- industrial phase to improve the recycling of plastic waste, biodegradable polymers to create demand and develop competitive biopolymers, Jean-Claude Lumaret plans. We will have two years to go to industrial pilot.” For now, Carbios enjoys a global exclusive patent held by Valagro and CNRS , two of his partners in this project , which protects the results confirming its ability to integrate enzymes in plastic and control their degradation speed.

What are the consequences of this technological advance in plastic recycling for office furniture? There is a safe bet that the plastic will become cheaper, because it will be easier to recycle. Therefore, designers of office furniture can benefit in a growing extent from such a flexible and malleable material, ideal for their creativity.