19 Jan 2024 --- TotalEnergies Corbion has found that the advanced recycling of polylactic acid (PLA) as a production process has a lower environmental impact than its production from virgin feedstock. The company conducted a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for recycled Luminy PLA, utilizing waste streams as feedstock for a bio-based polyester. Specifically, the company reports the global warming potential (GWP) of Luminy 30% rPLA, considering its biogenic carbon content, is 0.19 kgCO2/kg of PLA, whereas virgin Luminy PLA emits 0.51 kgCO2/kg of PLA. Maelenn Ravard, regulatory and sustainability manager at TotalEnergies Corbion, stresses the significance of advanced recycling, stating, “depolymerizing PLA via hydrolysis is an energy-efficient process allowing us to close the loop and increase circularity for a bio-based material. The LCA results only confirm this statement.”
