Queanbeyan will become home to Australia’s first infinite recycling and decarbonised plastic management research and development facility next year.

Samsara Eco, an Australian enviro-tech startup based at the Australian National University, will open the centre at the Poplars Innovation Precinct, Jerrabomberra, in late 2024.

The company says the R&D facility will provide a new home base to scale its patented enzymatic capabilities to recycle 1.5 million tonnes of plastic every year by 2030.

“You can’t solve the climate crisis unless you solve the plastics crisis,” Paul Riley, Samsara Eco’s CEO and founder, said. “Plastic is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and provides enormous utility because of its durability, flexibility, and strength. Yet, it’s also an environmental disaster with almost every piece of the 9 billion tonnes ever made still on the planet.”

By 2050, Samsara Eco states, plastics alone will contribute to 15 per cent of the total carbon budget, and outweigh fish in the oceans. One billion tons of carbon dioxide are pumped into the atmosphere every year to make virgin plastics from fossil fuels.

But Samsara Eco has the solution, Mr Riley says. Instead of mining for fossil fuels to create new plastic or relying on current recycling methods – which only recycle less than 10 per cent of plastic waste – Samsara Eco takes plastic that already exists and infinitely recycles it. The process breaks plastic down to its core molecules, which can then be used to recreate brand-new plastic, again and again.

Mr Riley says this process is carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly, and requires nothing more from our planet or everyday consumers (time, energy, resources, money).

Samsara Eco’s mission is to divert plastic from landfills and oceans, and remove the need for humanity to create plastic from fossil fuels ever again (whether it’s for the bottles we drink from or the clothes we wear) for a cleaner and more sustainable future.

Samsara Eco’s enzymatic library can tackle challenging plastics including coloured, multi-layered, mixed plastics and textiles like polyester and nylon 6,6, Mr Riley said.

The R&D facility will focus on accelerating Samsara Eco’s scientific research and expanding its enzymatic library, ready for commercialisation in future facilities.

Since launching in 2021, Samsara Eco’s R&D has been based at the research laboratories at the ANU. Samsara will continue to partner with the ANU.  

“We’ve had fantastic growth out of our ANU lab so far, but the plastic problem is growing fast,” Mr Riley said. “As we gear up towards commercialisation, access to our first R&D facility will enable us to accelerate the capabilities of infinite recycling and scale our solution which breaks down plastics in minutes, not centuries.”

Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council Mayor, Cr Kenrick Winchester, said that securing Samsara Eco as a key anchor tenant of the Poplars Innovation Precinct was a great step toward achieving the vision for the business park.

“Council shares Poplars Developments’ vision that focuses on attracting defence, space, cyber-security, information technology and scientific research sectors to the new precinct,” Cr Winchester said. 

“Samsara Eco’s innovative technology has the potential to put Queanbeyan and Jerrabomberra on the international stage as countries all over the world look for ways to reduce waste and work toward net-zero carbon emissions.   

“We hope that securing Samsara Eco is the first of many new and exciting initiatives for the precinct and we look forward to the employment opportunities the precinct will provide.”

Poplars will deliver a bespoke facility for Samsara, including offices, laboratories, and an R&D workshop.

“Poplars Innovation Precinct is located in Queanbeyan on the doorstep of the Australian Capital Territory which will support employment and investment opportunities,” David Maxwell, Director of Poplars Developments, said. “With an expanding network of connections to a range of universities and growth in the scientific research and high-technology industries, the precinct will be uniquely positioned to accelerate Samsara Eco’s next phase of growth.”

Samsara Eco was awarded the title of Australian Hero at the InnovationAus Awards in Excellence in 2022; the Banksia Foundation Ignite Award in 2022 for a “technology that contributes to the development and well-being of human needs and institutions while respecting the world’s natural resources and regenerative capacity”; and several awards and nominations from Fast Company.