L'Occitane 100% transparent r-PET bottle

        French biochemical company CARBIOS has partnered with global cosmetics brand L’Occitane and cosmetics and personal care packaging manufacturer Pinard Beauty Pack to develop a transparent, recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET) bottle made entirely from enzymatic depolymerization.

        This move marks another step forward for L’Occitane on its 2027 goal of 100% packaging made from post-consumer recycled r-PET.

        According to Carbios, the industrial demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, France, is responsible for collecting and processing difficult-to-recycle waste, such as colored bottles, multi-layered trays and mechanical recycling residues. These wastes are collected, sorted, prepared, and depolymerized using Carbios's bio-cycling technology. Carbios believes that this innovative process complements mechanical recycling technology because it can process colored, multi-layered and textile waste that cannot be recycled using traditional methods, and finally produces virgin monomers PTA and MEG. These monomers are repolymerized into new PET resins in the European supply chain. Pinard Beauty Pack uses these repolymerized PET resins to produce food-safe PET packaging with the same quality as petroleum plastics. The particles are blown into bottles according to L'Occitane's packaging specifications, and L'Occitane fills the bottles with shower oil.

        Since the collection and processing from the source, recycling and reuse, to the production of packaging products, are all completed locally, the transportation time and production time are greatly reduced, which can significantly reduce carbon emissions. Compared with the production of original plastics, the enzymatic depolymerization process can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 57%, and each ton of recycled r-PET produced can avoid 1.3 tons of oil.

        David Bayard, L’Occitane R&D Packaging Director, said: “We are proud to be part of this forward-thinking industry. Today, more than 50% of our PET comes from recycled materials. Thanks to CARBIOS and depolymerization technology, we are able to reduce our dependence on fossil plastics and provide a viable alternative with the same quality and transparency, which is important for our products.”

        Paolo Pinard Beauty Pack Plant Supervisor Coelho added: “The bottle can be blow-molded in the same parameters as virgin PET or mechanically recycled r-PET, which is a considerable advantage for Carbios’ innovative technology. We see strong demand for high-quality r-PET in the market.”