CO₂ PET bottles awarded

The Mibelle Group has manufactured PET bottle from CO₂, which would otherwise form greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to the company, this is a world’s first. The company has won the German Packaging Award 2021 in the Sustainability category as well as the WorldStar Packaging Award for this innovation.

The CO₂ recycling process is highly complex scientifically, yet really very simple, states Mibelle. Packaging for glass cleaners, and soon mouth washes and liquid soaps too, now contains up to 30% PET obtained from CO₂ (with mass balance), thus replacing new PET normally obtained from crude oil. New PET from CO₂ is therefore an ecologically sensible complement to recycled PET. This means the Mibelle Group can process recycled CO₂ to make new packaging.

As early as 2020, the Mibelle Group started using ethanol produced using CO₂ recycling technology in detergents. Similarly to beer brewing, during a fermentation process bacteria convert the captured CO₂ into ethanol.

Ethanol is used as the basis for manufacturing sustainable plastic, which is suitable for use in packaging. The recycled CO₂ packaging reduces crude oil consumption, binds the greenhouse gas and can be disposed of as usual in existing recycling. CO₂ PET therefore has a much smaller environmental footprint than conventional PET, yet is the same quality.

The Mibelle Group has teamed up with start-up company LanzaTech for the CO₂ recycling, to create a sustainable alternative plastic for packaging.

Visit Mibelle Group