Enzyme plastic recycler receives capital investment

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is investing $1.1 million in Australian advanced plastic recycling company Samsara Eco to help develop its enzymatic technology that accelerates the bacterial breakdown of plastic.

The investment, made on behalf of the Australian Government, is part of a $6 million capital raising. Samsara has seen investments elsewhere from the CSIRO’s Main Sequence and Woolworths venture capital and innovation fund W23.

“Samsara’s innovative technology is bringing a welcome solution to the major challenge of plastics recycling. The ability to infinitely recycle plastics is likely to significantly increase recovery rates and reduce the volume of plastics that end up in landfill,” said CEFC CEO Ian Learmont.

“Expanding resource efficiency and creating a circular economy can radically improve recycling in Australia and around the world. The potential emissions and landfill benefits are enormous.”

Compared to the current mechanical method of plastic recycling that results in millions of tonnes of mixed plastics going to the landfill due to their composition, Samsara’s solution involves a novel enzyme that is able to aid the bacterial digestion of plastics decomposing. It can be used with PET, polyurethane and mixed bale plastic.

The final result of the multi-stage process, which was developed with the Australian National University, is monomer pellets that can be turned into new plastic products. The process can be repeated countless times, making it useful for the development of a circular economy.

“The current approach to recycling is simply inefficient and ill-equipped to handle the plastic pollution crisis we are faced with today. If we are serious about changing our ways, we need a new approach to how plastic is made and recycled,” said Samsara founder Paul Riley.

“Samsara is that answer. Instead of mining for fossil fuels to create new plastics or relying on current recycling methods which sees only about 9% actually recycled, we can take plastic that already exists and infinitely recycle it.

“The latest round of capital raising brings us one step closer to making infinite recycling a national and global reality.”

The CEFC’s investment is part of a $100m fund to support clean energy-using innovations for the recycling of waste plastics, paper, glass and tyres.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Lea