Samsara Eco

Samsara has developed a world-first, unique solution to the plastics crisis that revolutionises waste management and plastics production.

The world is consuming resource-intensive plastics at an increasing rate, recycling only a tiny portion of them not as effectively as we could be), and we are polluting our environment with the leftover waste.

When plastic does find its way into the recycling stream, only a limited amount can be converted into usable plastic again, and only for a small number of cycles before losing structural integrity. New plastic production generates a billion tonnes of carbon each year.

Website: samsaraeco.com/

With global temperatures rising, the world needs Samsara’s climate positive solution that directly addresses the plastics crisis, eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions of new plastics production and our discarded plastic waste, saving an estimated 3 tonnes of carbon per tonne of plastic recycled.

A young team of researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have engineered enzymes to break down plastics atomically into monomers. These catalysts are the “engines” of the Samsara process that allows the plastic to be degraded in a low-energy, low-carbon manner, and recapture the chemicals used in the original production so the plastic can be remade, brand new. These super enzymes break down plastic faster and more effectively than any enzyme and convert plastic to monomers in under one hour.

To develop and commercialise this technology, Samsara partnered with the ANU and its research team, Australian supermarket giant Woolworths, and the CSIRO’s venture capital fund Main Sequence Ventures. Together with its partners, Samsara has developed and commercialised these groundbreaking discoveries so that we can infinitely recycle waste plastics.

The project applies the smarts of patented engineered enzymes and a novel process to existing commercial equipment, making it inherently scalable and cost-efficient. While it displaces fossil fuels in the production of new plastics, its monomer product slots seamlessly into the existing plastics supply chain, creating a truly circular economy for plastics.

This project revolutionises the plastic recycling and production industries, solving for the disastrous effects that both have on our climate. It provides a clean, intelligent, technology-based solution to a growing waste and resource problem and taps into an unprecedented demand for high-quality recycled products. The process is effective for harder to recycle plastics, including coloured plastic, multi-layer plastics, and mixed plastics.