Carbios Pushes Back French Enzymatic Recycling Plant as Funding Gap Narrows

French biotech company Carbios has reaffirmed its commitment to building its first industrial-scale PET biorecycling plant in Longlaville, France, while pushing the project timetable back by about three months as it finalizes the last portion of required financing, the company said in an official statement.

The delay reflects ongoing efforts to secure a small remaining share of project funding rather than a change in strategy, and comes as Carbios highlights growing commercial traction and substantial public support for the facility, which is intended to produce food-grade recycled PET using enzymatic depolymerization technology.

The Longlaville plant is central to Carbios’ ambition to scale up biorecycling in Europe at a time when regulators are tightening recycled-content requirements for packaging. France and the wider European Union have made plastics circularity a policy priority, but high capital costs and financing complexity have slowed several advanced recycling projects across the region, analysts say.

Carbios said it has now signed pre-commercialization agreements covering close to 50% of the future plant’s production capacity, with customers spanning the cosmetics, beverage and tire textile filament sectors. The company is working to raise those commitments to around 70%, a threshold that industry observers say is increasingly demanded by lenders and private investors before releasing funds for construction.

Those offtake agreements have helped unlock most of the financing needed to restart the project, which is structured to be largely ring-fenced from Carbios’ balance sheet through non-recourse financing. The overall funding package combines private debt and equity with confirmed public aid totaling €42.5 million, including national and regional support.

A small portion of financing still needs to be secured, which Carbios aims to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2026. If that target is met, the company expects the Longlaville plant to be commissioned in the first half of 2028. Carbios said it expects to end 2025 with more than €55 million in available cash, giving it visibility beyond the next twelve months while maintaining tight cost controls.

Industry groups argue that the Longlaville project will serve as an important test for whether enzymatic recycling can move beyond pilot scale in Europe. Unlike mechanical recycling, Carbios’ process breaks PET down into its original chemical building blocks, allowing repeated reuse without quality loss, a feature that has drawn interest from consumer brands facing stricter sustainability targets.

Alongside its French project, Carbios is accelerating a licensing-led expansion strategy. Earlier this month, the company signed a strategic partnership with China’s Wankai New Materials to deploy its PET biorecycling technology in Asia, marking its first major licensing agreement. Carbios said it plans to pursue additional licenses in Europe, North America and South America, rather than relying solely on building and operating its own plants.

Analysts say that a successful financial close at Longlaville, combined with further licensing deals, could strengthen Carbios’ position as policymakers and brand owners look for scalable solutions to meet recycled-content mandates over the coming decade.

Source: Carbios

SUNSHINE Spotlight: Carbios’ modest delay at its French recycling plant highlights the financial tightrope facing advanced recycling projects even as demand and policy support continue to build.