As Australia marks the opening of Samsara Eco’s first enzymatic recycling plant, PKN takes a closer look at how enzyme-based technology works, why it matters for packaging, and where it could take the industry next.
What is enzymatic recycling?
Enzymatic recycling is a biotechnology process that uses specially engineered enzymes to break down plastics into their original chemical building blocks. Unlike mechanical recycling – which shreds, melts, and remoulds plastics but often downgrades material quality – enzymatic processes return plastics to their virgin-identical monomers. These monomers can then be repolymerised to create new plastics with the same strength, performance, and safety profile as those made from fossil fuels.
This means packaging materials that were once considered “single-use” can be recycled repeatedly without loss of quality, moving closer to a truly circular system.
Why enzymes are a game-changer
Conventional recycling has long struggled with contamination, colour and material complexity, which is why so many plastic formats end up in landfill or incineration. Enzymatic recycling sidesteps these limitations. The process is versatile, able to handle mixed streams, coloured plastics and multilayer packaging. It produces outputs that are indistinguishable from virgin-grade plastics, avoiding the problem of downcycling. And because enzyme production can be scaled up for industrial use, the technology has potential to operate at commercial volumes.
Packaging potential
For packaging producers, enzymatic recycling offers a pathway to meet tightening sustainability requirements, including mandatory recycled content and extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes. Flexible packaging – films, pouches, sachets – is a particular focus. These formats are lightweight and resource-efficient but notoriously difficult to recycle.
Enzymatic processes break them down at the molecular level, creating a supply of high-quality recycled polymers that can be re-inserted into packaging production without compromising performance or food safety.
Australia’s leadership moment
With the opening of Samsara Eco’s Jerrabomberra plant, Australia is positioning itself at the forefront of this next generation of recycling. Samsara’s AI-designed EosEco enzymes are capable of processing a wide range of plastics, including nylon 6,6 and polyester. While the first commercial output will target textiles, the same technology is designed with packaging applications in mind.
Collaborations with brands are already underway to accelerate market adoption. By plugging recycled monomers into existing supply chains, Samsara aims to make it straightforward for manufacturers to swap virgin plastics for circular alternatives.
Global outlook
Enzymatic recycling is attracting major investment worldwide, with start-ups, academic groups, and established recyclers racing to scale. Analysts predict that within the next decade, enzymatic plants could sit alongside mechanical and chemical recycling as a core pillar of the global plastics circular economy.
If successful, this technology could transform the economics of recycling – turning plastic waste from a costly liability into a renewable resource with near-infinite lifecycles.
