Fiber Recycling Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees hold 200 of 607 records in scope (32.9%), and the top 10 hold 286 (47.1%) — roughly half the field sits with ten organisations.
- Filing has plateaued, not collapsed. Annual filings ran from 43 in 2021 to 41 in 2024, a -5% move over that span; 2025-2026 counts look lower only because publication lags filing by about 18 months.
- Pulp and paper compositions dominate the claim map. D21H accounts for 169 of 607 records (27.8%), more than double the next largest subclass, D01F fibre features at 74 records (12.2%).
Filing growth compares 2021 (43 records) with 2024 (41) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 607 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the fiber recycling patent record actually shows
Fiber recycling as a filing category sits at the intersection of mechanical fibre recovery, chemical pulp treatment and polymer reprocessing. The search set behind this page combines recovery and separation language with structural and performance claims — fibre diameter, web structure, tensile strength, recovery yield — so it captures both the how of recovering fibre from waste streams and the what of proving the recovered material still performs. That dual requirement shows up directly in the technology composition: D21H (pulp and paper compositions) is the single largest class by a wide margin, but chemical filament and fibre-feature claims, polymer processing claims and container/packaging claims all sit close together behind it.
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies across 607 records, with a distinct leader well ahead of the field and a rapid taper by fifth and tenth place. Filing activity peaked in 2019 and has since settled into a lower, comparatively stable band through the most recent complete year, 2024.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 607-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the record base breaks down across the eight leading IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry more than one classification, the subclass shares add up to more than 100%.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 103 in 2019, then declined. The 2021-2024 window shows near-stability (43 to 41 records, -5%) rather than a fresh downturn; treat 2025 and 2026 counts as provisional given the roughly 18-month publication lag.
IPC subclass composition
D21H (pulp and paper compositions) leads at 27.8% of records, ahead of D01F (12.2%), B65D containers and packaging (11.4%), C08J polymer processing (11.2%), B32B laminates (8.7%), C08K polymer additives (8.1%), D21C pulp production (6.4%) and C12P fermentation and enzymatic synthesis (6.3%).
Shares are the percentage of the 607 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Fiber Recycling Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about fiber recycling patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in the fiber recycling corpus
Carbon fiber bundle and method of manufacturing same
A carbon fiber bundle is characterized in that a ratio (n/N) of a number n of pairs wherein a flaw of 50 nm in size or more is present on at least one of the fracture surfaces forming the pair to a total number N of pairs of fiber fracture surfaces selected at random after performing a single fiber tensile test for a gauge length of 10 mm is 35% or less, and in that a single-fiber diameter d is 4.3 μm or more.Filed by Toray Industries, this record ties a specific fracture-surface flaw ratio to a minimum single-fibre diameter — a claim structure that sets a quantitative bar for fibre quality after recovery or reprocessing.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4375448A | Method of forming a web of air-laid dry fibers | 384 |
| 2 | US4343931A | Synthetic absorbable surgical devices of poly(esteramides) | 263 |
| 3 | US4529792A | Process for preparing synthetic absorbable poly(esteramides) | 219 |
| 4 | US4263184A | Homogeneous predispersed fiber compositions | 115 |
| 5 | US20100003431A1 | Composite materials | 111 |
| 6 | US9908680B2 | Tree-free fiber compositions and uses in containerboard packaging | 92 |
| 7 | US3846404A | Process of preparing gelled cellulose triacetate products and the products produced thereby | 82 |
| 8 | US6199778B1 | Systems and processes for recycling glass fiber waste material into glass fiber product | 74 |
| 9 | US4335066A | Method of forming a fibrous web with high fiber throughput screening | 60 |
| 10 | EP0030822A2 | Synthetic absorbable surgical devices of polyester amides and process for making them | 55 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings — read this table as a map of influential prior art, not of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns worth acting on: where the field is genuinely crowded, where activity has cooled without disappearing, and where geography concentrates filing risk.
Half the field sits with ten filers
The top 5 assignees combine for 200 of 607 records (32.9%) and the top 10 for 286 (47.1%). That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants competing for the remaining share, which is where freedom-to-operate work needs the most care rather than the least.
Plateau, not decline
Annual filings moved from 43 in 2021 to 41 in 2024, a modest -5% shift rather than a collapse. Several leading assignees show zero filings in the latest year, but that reading needs care given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication.
Pulp and paper compositions dominate the claim map
D21H alone touches more than a quarter of all 607 records, well ahead of chemical fibre-feature claims (D01F, 12.2%) and polymer processing (C08J, 11.2%). Dense D21H filing suggests occupied claim space in pulp-based recovery, not that the underlying recovery problem is solved.
US and EPO carry the bulk of filing activity
The United States leads receiving offices with 199 filings, ahead of the EPO at 107 and WIPO/PCT at 72. Canada, Australia and India each carry a smaller but non-trivial share, worth checking individually before assuming a filing is uncontested in a given jurisdiction.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to fiber recycling patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
A clear leader, a fast taper to the tenth-place assignee, and a small number of co-assignee pairs suggest most work here is done independently rather than through joint filing arrangements.
A single leader well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 84 records, more than three times the fifth-place count of 24 and well over five times the tenth-place count of 15. That gap is the clearest signal in the ranking: this is a field with one dominant filer rather than a tight cluster at the top.
A fast taper below the leader
Positions five through ten drop from 24 records to 15, a steep decline that flattens into the long tail. Organisations sitting in this band are active enough to matter for licensing conversations but not large enough to control a subclass outright.
Co-filing is rare, not structural
Only eight co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, mostly linking a parent company to its own subsidiaries rather than independent joint ventures. That points to filing strategies built around internal corporate structure rather than cross-company R&D partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Eastman Chemical Company | 0 | — |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | 0 | — |
| Kemira Oyj | 0 | -100% |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| Siebte PMI Verwaltungs GmbH | 0 | — |
| Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya | 0 | — |
| Criaterra Innovations Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to a few concrete follow-ups depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or new filing strategy.
Check the under-claimed sub-areas directly
Recovery-yield quantification and enzymatic separation claims show thinner density than the core pulp classes — worth a targeted search before assuming the space is open.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the leader's recent filing behaviour
Several top assignees show zero filings in the latest year on record; confirm whether that reflects genuine pullback or the publication lag before adjusting a competitive read.
Run a live assignee trend in EurekaMap citations against your own claim set
The most-cited records in this corpus skew older, which is expected — use them to understand foundational prior art, then verify against filings from the last three complete years.
Pull citation trees in EurekaCommon questions on fiber recycling patents
The assignee ranking behind this dataset covers 100 companies across 607 records, and one organisation leads clearly with 84 records — more than three times the count held by the fifth-place assignee. The top 5 assignees combine for 200 records, 32.9% of the 607 in scope, and the top 10 combine for 286, or 47.1%. That leaves a long tail of companies with only a handful of filings each, which is typical for a field built on both mechanical and chemical recovery routes rather than one dominant process.
Filing peaked in 2019 at 103 records and has since settled lower. Looking only at complete filing years, 2021 to 2024 shows a modest -5% change, from 43 to 41 records — essentially a plateau rather than a decline. Counts for 2025 and 2026 appear lower still, but that is expected: publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years always understate real activity.
Pulp and paper compositions (IPC class D21H) are the largest single category, appearing in 27.8% of the 607 records in scope — more than double the next largest class. Chemical filament and fibre-feature claims (D01F, 12.2%), container and packaging claims (B65D, 11.4%) and polymer processing (C08J, 11.2%) follow closely together. Because a record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%; the density in D21H signals occupied claim space around pulp-based recovery specifically, not that recycled-fibre technology overall is settled.
The United States is the leading receiving office with 199 filings in this dataset, followed by the European Patent Office at 107 and WIPO under the PCT route at 72. Canada, Australia and India each show smaller but meaningful filing volumes. Anyone assessing freedom-to-operate should check jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction rather than assuming US clearance implies clearance elsewhere, since filing volume varies substantially by receiving office.
That filing, from Toray Industries, ties a specific fracture-surface flaw ratio (35% or less, measured across randomly selected fibre fracture-surface pairs after a single-fibre tensile test) to a minimum single-fibre diameter of 4.3 micrometres. It restricts carbon fibre bundles that meet both the flaw-ratio threshold and the diameter floor as claimed, rather than carbon fibre quality testing in general. Work on recovered or reprocessed carbon fibre that lands inside both numeric bounds should be checked against this filing specifically, and alternative routes — different diameter ranges or different flaw-measurement methodology — are the more obvious way to design around it.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.