Epoch Biodesign has acquired a nylon 6,6 production plant in Blanes, Spain, becoming the first enzymatic recycling company to own commercial-scale polymer production capacity, the London-based biotechnology firm said this week.
The company purchased the facility from Domo Chemicals for just over 4 million euros, giving it industrial-scale polymerization capacity as fashion and automotive companies race to secure recycled materials amid tightening sustainability rules. The site, about 40 miles north of Barcelona, has annual capacity of 52,000 tons, equal to roughly 10% of nylon 6,6 production capacity across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Nylon 6,6 is used across apparel, automotive and industrial sectors, with annual global consumption exceeding 2 million tons. Despite brands and automakers setting ambitious 2030 recycled-content targets, less than 1% of nylon 6,6 is currently recycled, leaving manufacturers with few viable sources, a gap Epoch is positioning itself to fill.
Epoch’s platform uses AI-designed enzymes to break down waste plastics into their basic chemical components at low temperatures, producing what it describes as virgin-quality recycled polymer. Acquiring an existing facility offered a faster route to market than building polymerization capacity from scratch, founder and chief executive Jacob Nathan said. The company will retain the site’s roughly 60 employees, preserving manufacturing expertise while repurposing what Nathan called a fossil-fuel-era asset for recycled production.
Production at Blanes is scheduled to restart in October. Epoch’s separate demonstration plant in London, which it describes as Europe’s first and the world’s largest enzymatic nylon 6,6 recycling facility, is due to be completed this year. Once operational, monomers produced in London are expected to be processed and finished at the Spanish site.
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“Owning commercial-scale polymerisation means we can offer customers something the market has been waiting for: a genuine timeline to secure closed-loop supply of recycled nylon 6,6,” said Luciano Caruso, Epoch’s chief commercial officer.
The acquisition deepens Epoch’s relationships with strategic investors from the fashion industry. Inditex invested in the company’s Series A round through its venture arm, Mundi Ventures, while Lululemon has also backed the company. Epoch’s operations are underpinned by more than $50 million in funding from investors including Lululemon, Lowercarbon Capital, Extantia, Kompas VC and Mundi Ventures.
Nathan said the relationship with Lululemon and Inditex extends beyond capital into ongoing collaboration to bring recycled nylon 6,6 to market. Starting immediately, the company said, it will work with brand partners to validate its polymer within their supply chains and products.
Epoch Biodesign was founded in 2019 by Nathan and Professor Douglas Kell. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with INVISTA earlier this year to advance development of post-consumer recycled nylon 6,6, part of a broader push to build out its enzymatic recycling ecosystem.
The Blanes acquisition follows a year of expansion announcements for Epoch, including the London demonstration plant and its INVISTA partnership, as the company works to scale a platform aimed at closing the loop on one of the textile industry’s most under-recycled materials.
The deal comes as brands and manufacturers face mounting pressure from tightening sustainability regulation and constrained access to recycled feedstock. With mechanical recycling largely unable to process nylon 6,6 waste at scale, enzymatic recycling has drawn growing investor interest as a potential bridge to 2030 recycled-content commitments. Epoch’s move to control both the enzymatic breakdown and downstream polymerization marks a departure from the licensing models more common among early-stage materials innovators.
Vertical integration also reduces supply chain risk for Epoch’s partners, the company said, since it removes the need to coordinate with third-party polymerizers. Nathan described Blanes as central to that strategy, giving Epoch a head start on deliveries relative to competitors still developing polymerization capacity of their own.