An Australian company that is commercializing an infinite plastics recycling process has just raised another A$100 million (US$65.5 million) in a new funding round.
The Samsara Eco Pty. Ltd. process uses enzymes to break down plastics into their original monomers.
In late 2022, Samsara raised A$54 million from venture capital providers and Breakthrough Victoria, which manages a A$2 billion investment fund set up by the Victorian Government to encourage innovation in that state.
The latest A$100 million funding round was led by global Singapore-based investment company, Temasek; Main Sequence — a venture capital fund founded by the Australian government-backed research organization CSIRO to help commercialize research projects; and a cohort of new and existing backers, including specialist climate-project investor Wollemi Capital; Canadian-based clothing company Lululemon Athletica Inc., venture capital fund Hitachi Ventures GmbH in Munich, Germany; Titanium Ventures (T Ventures Management Co. Ltd.); and tech venture capital company DCVC, based in Palo Alto, Calif.
The giant Sydney-based supermarket retailer Woolworths Group Ltd. was an initial backer. Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara Eco, told Plastics News that Woolworths, via its venture capital arm W23, "continues to be a strong backer and supporter."
Asked what progress Woolworths had made with a plan to use Samsara Eco resin for its packaging, Riley said: "We don't have anything further to share on our partnership with Woolworths specifically."
Riley said in a news release that the new funding "brings us one step closer to eliminating plastic waste and ensuring it never ends up in landfill or [is] incinerated again."
The company has previously told Plastics News the enzymes' ability to break plastic down to its original monomers means products made from Samsara-developed plastic can be endlessly recycled because the quality does not degrade over time, hence the term "infinite recycling."
In mid-July, Riley told PN that Samsara Eco's first proof-of-concept facility is operating at Mitchell, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and construction of an "innovation campus" in Jerrabomberra, in New South Wales, is in progress.
"The innovation campus R&D facility will provide additional facilities for global brands to partner, test and create with Samsara Eco and we expect to be operating out of the facility by Q2 next year," he said.
The "innovation campus" is near the Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra in the ACT, where the technology was developed.
Riley, who had experience in venture capital and private equity business building, launched Samsara after he read an article about two ANU chemistry doctorate students who had developed plastic-degrading enzymes.
In 2023 the company told PN that ANU had released the intellectual property and research to Samsara because it "wanted to support commercialization without squabbling over the rights."
Riley said Samsara continues to partner with ANU "as we work to scale up our world-class technology. Since launching in 2020, our R&D has been based at the research labs at ANU."
Riley told PN that Samsara plans to expand internationally.
"The problem we're solving is global so international expansion is a must if we're to make a real impact and deliver climate repair," he said.
He expects new commercial facilities to be built in southeast Asia will be operational by late 2026.
"Basing our manufacturing operations in southeast Asia ensures we're close to prospective partners so we can ultimately scale impact," he said. "Each facility will have the capacity to enzymatically recycle between 20,000 and 50,000 [metric] tons annually of plastic waste like discarded textiles and packaging.
"One facility will focus on processing nylon 6/6, while the second will process polyester. The facilities will produce tens of thousands of monomers, which will be turned into brand new products, creating a truly circular loop."
Riley did not name precise locations for the two plants, nor did he respond to Plastics News' question about the 2023 plan to have its first commercial-scale factory open in the Australian state of Victoria in 2024.
Asked when Samara Eco expects to be profitable, Riley said: "We're positive about the progress we have made since launching in 2020. What we're solving is hard and we've already made significant inroads in developing a way to infinitely recycle polyester and nylon 6/6."
Riley said Lululemon is Samsara's first textile partner and they started working together in 2023.
"Our partnership with Lululemon, along with our [latest fundraising] and other partnerships we have in the pipeline put us in strong stead and bring us one step closer towards commercialization," he said.
This year, the partners unveiled "the world's first enzymatically recycled nylon 6/6 product" and Samsara helped to introduce Lululemon's first product made from enzymatically recycled polyester. The patented nylon 6/6 technology is called EosEco.
Riley said Samsara can recycle a breadth of feedstock inputs, including PET and nylon.
"We've been trialling different textiles, including light, dark and mixed fabrics, [and] different feedstocks like carpet fibers.
"As we continue to expand our library of plastic-eating enzymes, the opportunity for infinite recycling will continue to grow and we'll never need to produce plastic from fossil fuels again.
"Because our technology can handle both color and mixed polymers, we've opened up a whole range of feedstock that would've otherwise gone to landfill. We're ambivalent about the feedstock that can go through our product.
"With less than 10 percent of plastic being recycled, there's plenty of plastic we need to divert from landfills and that's where our technology is unique," Riley said.
He told Plastics News that textile-to-textile recycling is only a maximum of 1 percent of the fashion industry. "Most products produced from textile-to-textile recycling use materials like fishing nets to recapture nylon.
"With our technology, we are creating an infinite life cycle for apparel, whether it's off-cuts, pre-loved garments, post-consumer or industrial waste. The waste product that would have otherwise been destined for landfills becomes a valuable resource."
Riley said Samsara acknowledged its product "needs to be competitively priced" and developing a commercially viable model has been a focus from day one.
"We work with customers to ensure our solution is not only market competitive but easily fits into their existing supply chains," Riley said.
Samsara Eco now employs 90 people and the company will have staff spread across Australia, Europe, southeast Asia and North America in the next 12-18 months, Riley said. The additional funding will enable the company to employ more chemists, engineers and technicians.
"To solve the plastics crisis, we have to take a global approach. For now, we're focused on expansion in North America and southeast Asia, but we expect the markets we operate in to continue growing as we scale."
Riley said the enzymatic recycling process has a "substantially lower carbon footprint" than that used to create virgin plastics.
In Hinduism and Buddhism, samsara is the cycle of death and rebirth.