The linear life of plastics
Manufacturing plastics releases all manner of pollutants and toxic chemicals into the environment. Plastics manufacturing directly contributes to global warming because they’re made from fossil fuel. It is predicted that by 2050 15% of the carbon budget will come from the plastics sector.
Fossil fuels can be turned into literally thousands of types of plastics, all containing different chemical additives and properties.
This diversity in durability, flexibility and strength, is one of the reasons we’re addicted to plastics.
It’s why plastics are everywhere, in virtually every sector, even in places you wouldn’t expect.
This diversity is also why our waste systems cannot cope. It’s why less than 10% of our plastics end up being recycled.
Samsara Eco can change this.
Today, less than 10% plastics are recycled.
Why?
The problem with traditional recycling
Traditional recycling (more commonly conceptualised as curb side collection) actually results in downcycling, where plastics lose their integrity and quality with each mechanical cycle.
This means the mechanically recycled plastics must be mixed with virgin plastics - sometimes only constituting as little as 10% of the new ‘recycled’ product!
Sadly, after 4-6 cycles, the quality becomes so low that these unusable plastics have only one fate: landfill.
This is not genuine recycling.
This is delayed landfilling.
The problem with advanced recycling
Unlike mechanical recycling, advanced recycling actually changes plastics at the molecular level. The result is not finely ground polymers, but rather original monomers ready to be made into new, virgin-grade plastics or fuel.
While advanced recycling is certainly useful for diverting plastics waste away from landfill, most of these processes are still highly pollutive…
Types of advanced recycling
-
Thermal recycling
Uses very high heat to revert plastic polymers into monomers or convert them into fuels (waste to energy).
This results in recyclables with premium price tags, while still contributing to climate-warming carbon emissions.
-
Chemical recycling
Uses solvents to revert plastic polymers into monomers for high-quality plastics and fuels.
There are many different approaches to chemical recycling, but ultimately it is expensive, slow, and pollutive.
-
Enzymatic recycling
Using enzymes found in nature and highly optimised in the laboratory, this process also results in high-quality plastics.
Not all enzymatic technologies are environmentally friendly. But ours is.
Multiple plastics | minimal environmental impact | virgin-grade products | fast and scalable
Plastics are the problem… right?
The demonisation of plastics has made glass, paper, bioplastics, and woven textiles feel like the better, guilt-free choice. Unfortunately, all waste—not just plastics—is a big problem.
This does not mean we should give up and settle for single-use plastics! On the contrary, we need to be vigilant about all our waste (not just plastic). And where plastics are concerned, we need to demand 100% infinitely recycled plastics.
Bioplastics
Paper
Glass
Textile
At Samsara Eco, we are able to take the remarkable plastic-degrading capabilities found in nature and study them, optimise them, and execute them at a commercial speed and scale.
Samsara Eco absolutely advocates for less plastics through reducing, reusing, and repairing. We want to build a world that never needs fossil fuels for plastics again.
We want to take responsibility for the plastics already on earth, by never letting them become waste, ever.
9 problems of plastics
-
Both manufacturing of plastics and recycling of plastics results in climate-warming carbon emissions.
By 2050, 15% of the world’s carbon budget will come from plastics alone. We have to deal with the plastics crisis in order to deal with the climate crisis.
-
Plastic pollution is prolific. It takes 500 years to break down and resulting in toxic microplastics found deep in ocean trenches and within our drinking water.
Currently, there are no solutions for processing all this waste.
-
Traditional recycling results in low-quality plastics that will inevitably reach landfill after 4-6 cycles.
This is not recycling, it’s downcycling.
-
Marketing and advertising agendas have been extremely successful in making us reliant upon a single-use culture.
Since the 50s, companies have designed products for single-use. This is particularly true of products that are affordable and available.
People cannot escape plastics.
-
Many people cannot access or afford products without plastics. Others are too busy, don’t know about alternatives, or don’t care.
Additionally, people are affected by plastic pollution differently, with those from low socioeconomic backgrounds usually being hardest hit.
-
There are many myths, misconceptions, greenwashing tactics, and knowledge gaps when it comes to plastics and the circular economy.
At the same time, people are drowning in facts and completely overwhelmed by knowledge complexities!
-
Plastics have incredible properties. They are also virtually indestructible.
Global demands for plastics is predicted to grow, with petrochemicals accounting for a third of the increasing global oil demand by 2030, rising to 50% by 2050.
-
Culturally we are accustomed to throwaway culture and consumerism. Both are hard to change.
-
Government will have to pull their weight and implement stronger regulations and pressure on plastic-producing corporations to meet net zero targets.
We are attacking the plastics problems holistically
Samsara Eco is tackling:
-
Samsara Eco can deliver genuine climate repair by decoupling plastics from fossil fuels and performing a carbon-neutral recycling process. We have the capacity to move the dial on climate change.
-
There are 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste on earth. That is enough for us to never make new plastics from fossil fuels ever again, and still have plenty left over.
That means we have a feedstock opportunity: plastic waste.
Our long-term dream is to go into landfills and recover dumped plastics to clean up our planet.
-
Traditional recycling results in low-quality plastics that will inevitably reach landfill after 4-6 cycles.
Advanced recycling technologies are able to overcome this problem, but at a cost: a climate cost. They require high energy and high carbon emitting processes, which inevitably are not going to solve the technology problem.
Samsara Eco can generate 100% recyclable, virgin-grade plastic and we can do it using carbon-neutral technology.
-
While we cannot control advertising and marketing, we can ensure we set a high standard for the companies we partner with to ensure they are genuinely willing to responsibly design with our recycled plastics.
We also plan to explore product stewardship and traceability solutions more deeply.
-
We cannot reduce the demand for plastics, but we can deliver for this demand in a new, carbon-neutral way… by supplying the sector with monomers made from waste, not from fossil fuels.
SAM.FOR.CHANGE is working on:
-
SAM.FOR.CHANGE is about activism and education. We plan to be a strong voice to Australian policy makers and set a high standard for anti-greenwashing, measurable sustainability claims, and continuous consideration of the whole value chain regarding our company.
-
SAM.FOR.CHANGE will work to highlight and partner with the incredible organisations and change makers in the circular economy space, including climate-focused organisations, startups, designers, activists - you name it.
-
SAM.FOR.CHANGE sees education, accountability, and transparency as equally important as our enzymatic technology for infinite plastics recycling.
We are working on implementing many educational strategies, including educating ourselves to overcome biases and blindspots.
-
SAM.FOR.CHANGE is committed to holding Samsara Eco accountable when it comes to decoupling “sustainability” from “luxury”.
Samsara Eco is also working on a Reconciliation plan with First Nations consultants.
You can act today
We are working on a bunch of strategies to empower the community with knowledge and a platform for reaching policymakers.
-
We are constantly learning and we want to share our knowledge with you! Follow us to learn more about the myths of traditional recycling, greenwashing tactics that corporations employ, and the science behind our technology.
-
We know that solving the plastics crisis is also about culture and policy. That’s why we created SAM.FOR.CHANGE. SAM is still in its earliest stages, and we encourage you to join us in making it a voice of the community. Sign our pledge (and watch this space) for more on how we are working to bring change in the political arena.