Plaxtil is a start-up that gives a second life to disposable masks in its factory in Châtellerault, in Vienne.

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  • At the start of the year, 

    20 Minutes

     presents those who will make the news in 2021 thanks to their associative action, their sports performance, their entrepreneurial spirit or their creativity. 

  • The start-up Plaxtil, which specializes in textile recycling, has carried out a conclusive test to transform consumer masks into various plastic objects.

  • It plans to triple its workforce in 2021 and to open factories in several sites in France.

Plaxtil is a very young start-up created a year ago to recycle mixed textiles by transforming them into polymers (which will become various plastic objects).

Its factory is in Châtellerault in Vienne, where it is backed up by a larger company, CDA Developpement.

Its initiative to recycle disposable masks in the spring propelled it into the limelight and allowed it to identify a high potential market in protective equipment.

A vein so promising that it plans to triple its workforce in 2021 and install new factories in France, starting with Hauts-de-France.

A craze on mask recycling

At the end of June, tired of seeing masks abandoned in the street, the managers of Plaxtil have the idea of ​​trying to recycle them.

"We adapted what we knew how to do with masks by adding a sharp decontamination logic so that there is no health problem," explains one of the co-founders Olivier Civil.

To achieve this, Plaxtil has joined forces with the start-up Uvmobi to set up ultraviolet disinfection.

Since the start of the operation, 500,000 masks have been recycled by Plaxtil.

It organized a local collection in Châtellerault and Poitiers.

A partnership was forged at the end of 2020 with a major brand and will allow the company to scale up.

“We have just launched an operation with Kiabi in around fifteen stores in the West of France to collect masks,” explains Olivier Civil.

And, within a few days, we will launch partnerships with very large companies that want to recycle their masks used internally ”.

Originally, Plaxtil's function was to recycle mixed textiles, which are widely used in the fashion industry, and which have no recycling channel.

“We offer the only solution that allows them to be transformed into polymers.

We make hangers from them that will be reused in Kiabi stores, for example, ”explains the co-manager of the start-up.

She hopes that other clothing brands will be interested in this recycling of textile hangers, from 2021.

The masks are transformed into various plastic objects.

“We make them openers, attach masks etc.

In Poitiers we also make school kits (square, ruler, protractor) from this polymer, he explains.

We always assume that the emitter of the waste will be the one who will use the material.

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An opening to all single-use equipment

The recycling of the masks was not planned at the launch of the box and "of course we wish that this problematic masks (for the general public) stop at some point, underlines Olivier Civil.

On the other hand, it gave us visibility in other markets, in particular that of disposable personal protective equipment (in the food, pharmaceutical, etc.) ”.

Outside the hospital sector, where a tightly regulated protocol already exists to treat this waste, these areas of activity use single-use equipment (gowns, charlottes, overhoes and masks) which end up in the trash, without being recycled.

With its ultraviolet system, Plaxtil looks at these areas with interest.

"When we are at cruising speed, it can be a market, outside of the covid context," comments the co-manager.

The year 2021 promises to be much more promising than expected for this limousine start-up.

“We had already planned an ambitious budget with our transformation of textiles into hangers.

This important market assures us of a ramp-up for 2021 and 2022. Then, the market for masks and PPE, this opens up a second development axis for us which will be very clearly promising.

The young company enters 2021 with a light heart, planning to exceed its growth targets.

“In 2022 and 2023, we will very quickly develop international development,” says Olivier Civil.

Opportunities are opening up everywhere.

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Strong development in 2021

To support this strong development Plaxtil will go from six employees to around 20 in 2021, including 4 to 8 employees in integration.

The start-up does not want to expand its Chatellerault factory but plans to set up other processing units in France.

"In 2021, what we are doing in Chatelleraut, we will do in the Hauts de France, because it is a textile region and there are partners, we will continue with the Paris region, and we are also looking the south and the east ”.

The strength of the Plaxtil factory is that its process remains the same to transform mixed textiles and PPE (including masks).

“We can do all this in the same factory, points out the co-manager.

We are quite flexible.

Clearly, even masks could eventually be turned into hangers.

A fairly open field of possibilities which offers great prospects to the young company.

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  • Start-up

  • Youth

  • Society

  • epidemic

  • Plastic

  • Recycling