Imagine trying to unweave a messy sweater made of different materials to get the original yarn back. This project uses smart sorting and special biological 'scissors' called enzymes to break down tough plastic waste into its original building blocks. These blocks are then used to make brand new, high-quality products instead of letting the waste sit in a landfill.
Over 20 Mt/y of complex PET waste from tyres and textiles are landfilled or incinerated because no closed-loop recycling is currently viable for these mixed materials.
A combined smart sorting and enzymatic depolymerization system. It produces repolymerized PET from 2t of waste, resulting in 100 tyres, 1,500m of hoses, and 400m2 of technical fabric.
If you are a tyre manufacturer dealing with end-of-life tyres — this project developed a sorting and enzymatic process that can recover PET monomers. This allows you to turn waste tyres into high-added value products, contributing to a goal of recycling 2 Mt of PET annually by 2030.
If you are a garment producer dealing with multicomponent clothing waste — this project developed a way to reach 80% PET content in waste streams. This enables the production of technical garments from recycled monomers, reducing emissions by around 2.06 Mt CO2eq.
If you are a manufacturer dealing with lay-flat hose waste — this project developed a closed-loop recycling system. It transforms 1,500 m of lay-flat hoses back into pure PET monomers for repolymerization.
Yes, first projections indicate that WHITECYCLE’s recycled PET will be competitive with virgin PET.
The project uses 2 t of waste to demonstrate pilot series including 100 tyres, 1,500 m of lay-flat hoses, and 400m2 of fabric.
Based on available project data, the project provides process design kits and production cost estimates to PET manufacturers and waste management companies for rapid deployment.
The project runs from 2022-07-01 to 2026-06-30, aiming to enable the annual recycling of over 2 Mt of PET by 2030.
It combines smart sorting to increase PET content to 80% with a disruptive enzymatic recycling process that works even for impure waste streams.
The consortium is heavily industry-driven with 11 industrial partners (58% ratio), including 7 SMEs. It is led by a major corporate player (Michelin) and includes a strategic mix of 3 brand-owners, 2 waste managers, and specialized deeptech and enzymatic recycling SMEs, ensuring the transition from lab to industrial application.
Contact Manufacture Francaise des Pneumatiques Michelin
Contact us to access the process design kits and cost estimates for PET recycling.
