Mapea is a French company specializing in the recycling of complex textile waste into high-performance plastic compounds for the plastics industry. Founded in 2003 by René Genillon, it leverages expertise in reactive extrusion and polymer compatibilization, particularly with polyester, to address growing textile waste challenges and demand for low-carbon recycled materials.
Based in Saint-Genis-Laval near Lyon, Mapea employs its proprietary Textium® process to transform hard-to-recycle blends—such as cotton/polyester, polyamide/polyurethane (PA/TPU), and polyester/polyurethane (PET/TPU)—into technical granules like Petex, Regafib, and Regamid. These compounds support applications in injection molding, extrusion, and 3D printing across sectors including sports, leisure, building, automotive, and electronics.
Recent milestones include a 2024 funding round, industrial site setup, and commercialization of its first product lines. Mapea participates in initiatives like the FIREX project for large-scale textile recycling and has been noted in trials involving polyester-rich textile processing, contributing to circular economy efforts in the chemical and plastics sectors.
Also known as Mapéa.
Semi-industrial test processed tens of tons of post-consumer polyester textiles to produce BHET monomer, validating textile-to-textile chemical recycling and enabling circular polyester loops.
