Australia will soon welcome its first commercial recycling plant that uses enzymes to “eat” plastic and break it down into its core molecules so they can be reused.
Recycling start-up Samsara’s first 5000 tonnes of recycled material – equivalent to the weight of almost nine A380 aircraft – will be trialled in packaging items for Woolworths supermarket shelves in the next two years.
The enzymes were developed by researchers at the Australian National University and are currently being used on the small scale at a lab on campus, with plans for the commercial plant to employ about 50 people.
