Plastic Recycling: DePoly - A Promising Technology, but No Universal Solution
"Over 90% of the world's plastics are not recycled. Innovations are multiplying - but they are far from equal."
3/18/20264 min read
"Over 90% of the world's plastics are not recycled. Innovations are multiplying but they are far from equal."
The Structural Problem: Why Recycling Plastic Is So Difficult
The global textile industry is under pressure. Polyester which now accounts for over 54% of global fibre production is everywhere: in our clothes, sportswear and technical textiles. Yet less than 1% of garments collected at end of life are recycled into new textile fibres. The vast majority end up incinerated or landfilled.
The main reason? Traditional mechanical recycling shredding, melting, re-extruding degrades polymer chains with each cycle. After three to five passes, the fibre is no longer of sufficient quality to become a garment again. This is not closed-loop recycling; it is downcycling a downward spiral towards increasingly low-value applications.
Added to this is a fundamental obstacle that is often overlooked: plastic is not one material, it is a family. Polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, PVC, polystyrene, polyurethane each has its own distinct chemistry. A technology optimised for one is often unusable for the others. As a result, no universal recycling solution exists today.
DePoly: A Real Technology with a Well-Defined Niche
It is against this backdrop that Swiss startup DePoly (Valais) is attracting attention. Its approach is fundamentally different from mechanical recycling: rather than melting plastic down, it depolymerises it breaking molecular chains to recover the original building blocks.
The patented process relies on chemical hydrolysis of PET and polyester, producing two purified monomers: Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG). These molecules are chemically identical to those derived from crude oil direct drop-in substitutes, ready to use without modification in existing industrial processes.
What distinguishes DePoly from its competitors (Carbios in France, Eastman in the US) is both technical and decisive: the reaction occurs at room temperature, without additional pressure, using common, non-hazardous chemicals. Most competing processes require 150 to 300°C. Furthermore, DePoly processes coloured, blended and unwashed textile waste precisely the streams that mechanical recycling cannot handle.
Tangible Results and the Limitations You Should Know
The verifiable facts to date are solid:
→ 50 t/year pilot operational since 2020; 500 t/year demonstration plant opened in Monthey (Valais) in 2025
→ Complete cycle demonstrated with PTI: polyester waste → recycled PTA → PET pellets → blown bottles, quality identical to virgin resin
→ CO₂ emissions reduction of up to 66% vs. fossil-based virgin PET
→ Partnerships with Odlo, Beiersdorf, BASF Venture Capital; supported by the EU InvestEU Fund
→ World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2024; 2nd place Top 100 Swiss Startup Award 2025
But the role of the International Textile Biomass Alliance is to provide honest, grounded analysis. Here therefore are the objective limitations:
⚠️ Limitation #1 - Scope restricted to PET and polyester
DePoly's process relies on ester bond chemistry, specific to PET. It is incompatible with polyolefins (PE, PP), which account for ~55% of global plastic production, as well as PVC, polystyrene and polyurethane.
⚠️ Limitation #2 - Scale still modest
500 t/year for the demonstration plant. The first commercial plant is targeted for 2027, with no publicly announced capacity. By comparison, Carbios is targeting 50,000 t/year for its first industrial plant, currently under construction in France.
⚠️ Limitation #3 - Economic equation yet to be proven
Fossil-based virgin PET trades between €0.80 and €1.50/kg. The competitiveness of DePoly's recycled PTA at commercial scale has not yet been publicly demonstrated, this is the central challenge for the entire chemical recycling sector.
"DePoly is a serious and promising technology for difficult polyester textiles. But presenting it as a global answer to the plastics problem would be inaccurate."
What Comes Next? The Most Promising Pathways to 2030
The question the International Textile Biomass Alliance keeps asking and that the entire industry is grappling with is whether a path exists towards universal, residue-free, infinitely circular recycling.
The most significant breakthrough of 2025 comes from South Korea. The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) has demonstrated that an ultra-brief cold plasma cracking process directly converts unsorted mixed plastics into ethylene and benzene, the fundamental molecules of all petrochemistry, with selectivity exceeding 70% and final purity above 99%. No carbonaceous residues. No prior sorting. An industrial demonstration line is planned for 2026.
The biological route is also progressing: mutant enzymes (PETase) and CRISPR-based approaches can now convert PET directly into bioplastics. Still too slow for industrial scale today, but worth watching closely.
Comparative Overview of Recycling Technologies (2025)
1. Mechanical recycling
Plastics processed: all types in theory, but in practice limited to clean, homogeneous streams
No residues: no - non-recoverable residual waste is always produced
Infinitely recyclable: no - fibre degrades with each cycle (downcycling)
Industrial viability: yes, mature technology deployed worldwide
Maturity: fully industrial
2. DePoly - chemical hydrolysis of PET/polyester
Plastics processed: PET and polyester only (textiles, bottles, packaging)
No residues: yes - produces purified monomers reusable as-is
Infinitely recyclable: yes - recovered monomers can be repolymerised indefinitely
Industrial viability: under validation - first commercial plant targeted for 2027
Maturity: demonstration plant operational in Monthey (Switzerland) since 2025
3. Enzymatic depolymerisation - Carbios and equivalents
Plastics processed: PET only
No residues: yes - mild conditions, high selectivity
Infinitely recyclable: yes - same monomers recovered
Industrial viability: in progress - first industrial plant under construction in France (targeting 50,000 t/year)
Maturity: advanced pilot stage
4. Classic pyrolysis
Plastics processed: primarily PE, PP, PS - not PET or PVC
No residues: no - inevitable production of carbonaceous residues (char)
Infinitely recyclable: partial - pyrolysis oil can substitute petrochemical naphtha
Industrial viability: yes, industrially deployed technology
Maturity: industrial, but variable quality depending on feed streams
5. Plasma gasification
Plastics processed: all types, including highly heterogeneous and contaminated streams
No residues: yes - produces syngas (CO + H₂) and inert vitrified slag usable in construction
Infinitely recyclable: yes - syngas can be converted back into new plastic molecules
Industrial viability: partial - high energy consumption remains a challenge
Maturity: industrial pilot stage
6. Cold plasma - KIMM breakthrough (South Korea, 2025)
Plastics processed: all types, no prior sorting required
No residues: yes - no carbonaceous residues thanks to the ultra-brief pulse
Infinitely recyclable: yes - directly produces ethylene and benzene, the building blocks of all plastics chemistry
Industrial viability: yet to be proven - demonstration line planned for 2026
Maturity: advanced R&D stage - results published 2025, purity >99%, selectivity >70%
The Alliance's Conviction: Design for Recyclability
End-of-life recycling, however effective, cannot be the only answer. The real revolution lies upstream: designing textiles whose chemical composition enables clean, on-demand depolymerisation. This means eliminating substances that inhibit chemical recycling, favouring mono-material structures, and embedding recyclability into design briefs from day one.
This is precisely the purpose of our FiberForever™ certification: a framework that assesses not only companies' current practices, but also their trajectory towards full circularity - including the recyclability of the materials they use.
DePoly deserves the attention and support of the polyester industry. Cold plasma technology opens a more universal perspective for the decade ahead. But the lasting solution to the plastics challenge will be built collectively - through technological innovation as much as through responsible design from the very start.
🌿 Would you like to assess the environmental footprint of your textile products or explore your eligibility for FiberForever™ certification? Visit itba-aibt.org
Sources: DePoly SA (depoly.co), World Economic Forum 2024, Swiss Startup Award 2025, KIMM Cold Plasma Research 2025, Carbios Annual Reports 2024-2025, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, International Textile Biomass Alliance analysis.
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