Samsara Eco unveils commercial textile recycling plant using AI-engineered enzymes

A COMMERCIAL-SCALE plant that will use AI-developed enzymes to recycle waste textiles and plastics has opened in New South Wales, Australia.

Samsara Eco, the startup that launched the plant in Jerrabomberra near Canberra in early September, claims to be the first company to develop “textile-to-textile” recycling – a process that extracts plastic fibres from end-of-life garments so they can be reused to create new clothing. The company did not confirm the exact production capacity of the new plant but said it will produce recycled materials for “hundreds of thousands of garments annually”.  

The new plant uses a proprietary recycling technology to extract nylon, polyester and PET polymers from waste textiles and plastic, before using enzymes to break them down into AA, HMD, TPA and MEG monomers. The monomers are then purified and separated from colourants and dyes before being sent to polymerisation partners, who convert them back into nylon 6,6 and polyester.

The Jerrabomberra site will be used to supply sportwear brand lululemon with recycled nylon and polyester after the two companies agreed a ten-year deal in June. In February last year, lululemon debuted the world’s first garment made from enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 – a long-sleeve sports top containing over 90% recycled material, developed using Samsara Eco’s technology. By April 2024, the company expanded its offering with an anorak made from Samsara Eco’s recycled polyester.

Samsara Eco is primarily targeting nylon 6,6 and polyester recycling, which are two of the most used fibres worldwide. Their tough, heavy-duty properties, which make them ideal for long-lasting clothing, have historically made them difficult to recycle.

The company also hopes to be able to recycle a wide range of plastics using its “library of plastic-eating enzymes”, which the company develops using a proprietary AI-powered platform. The Jerrabomberra site includes expanded enzyme production facilities, along with new research labs that will host The LYCRA Company’s studies into spandex recycling.

Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara Eco, said the milestone “isn’t just about building a plant. It’s about building a circular future where materials don’t have an end-of-life. Instead, they are infinitely recycled, reducing the world’s reliance on finite resources”.

Riley added: “This is a true tipping point for circularity, shifting circular materials from early-stage innovation to mainstream reality.”

The plant’s launch was accompanied by a ceremony attended by local and federal politicians, including Chris Bowen, Australian government minister for climate change and energy.

‘Extraordinary achievement’

Each year, the 92m t of textile waste generated globally account for 11% of all plastic waste. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 8% of textile fibres were made from recycled sources in 2023.  

Samsara Eco was launched in 2021 in partnership with Australian National University and with financial backing from the Woolworths Group and venture capital firm Main Sequence, with the goal of developing “infinite recycling” of textiles and plastic waste. The company is aiming to recycle the equivalent of 500m garments and 10bn plastic bottles annually by 2030.

Samsara Eco has attracted financing from major players in the deep tech investment space, including Hitachi Ventures and Greycroft. Jan Marchewski, an associate at Hitachi Ventures, said they had been “deeply impressed by Samsara Eco’s ability to deliver every milestone on time and on budget – an extraordinary achievement for a deep tech company”.