Voluntary action not enough to achieve circularity on packaging

By Sarah Cook National mandatory requirements are the only way Australia can reduce waste and create a circular economy for packaging. The current voluntary approach is not working. While the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) set National Packaging Targets for 2025 — including 50 per cent of average recycled content included in packaging — the data show…

Samsara Eco raises $100m to recycle plastics

Plastic recycling startup Samsara Eco has raised $100 million in its latest funding round. Led by global investment company, Temasek and Australian deep tech investment fund, Main Sequence, funds also came from Wollemi Capital, lululemon, Hitachi Ventures, Titanium Ventures (formerly Telstra Ventures) and DCVC. The capital will help Samsara Eco scale its enzymatic recycling capabilities,…

lululemon, Samsara say new recycled polyester jacket is a world first

Plastic recycling startup Samsara Eco has announced the next step in its partnership with athletic clothing brand lululemon, launching their first product containing “enzymatically recycled polyester” on Thursday. According to a statement from the pair, a limited edition Packable Anorak jacket by lululemon contains “a variety of inputs, including mixed plastic waste, lululemon apparel at…

Best of the week — the five most popular stories among @AuManufacturing’s readers

What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading. 5) Government buys sea mines, ‘potentially’ locally assembled The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has announced it will purchase new, smart sea mines, which will reinvigorate Defence’s maritime mining capability, and are deployable from submarines, ships and aircraft, according to…

Samsara Eco gets first strategic investor in SE Asia

Japan’s Kanematsu Corporation has made an investment in Australian environmental technology startup Samsara Eco. According to a statement from Samsara – which has developed an enzyme-based process to dissolve end-of-life plastic back into its component monomers for reuse – trading company Kanematsu acquired the strategic stake by accepting Samsara’s third-party allotment of shares.  “Through this…