Inflation makes it not easy being green not Trump: Samsara Eco

The cost of living crunch, not Trump, has relegated green initiatives to the back seat, according to climate tech start-up Samsara Eco’s new American recruit.

Brock Thomas (left), Samsara's new chief innovation officer with the company's founder and CEO Paul Riley.

Inflation and a slowing global economy has pushed green initiatives more into the background than Donald Trump’s return to power, says one of climate tech start-up Samsara Eco’s new American recruits.

Thee Canberra-based company has hired two new executives from the US to help scale its enzymatic recycling technology, which aims to change fashion forever and combat plastic pollution.

Samsara has partnered with activewear brand Lululemon and others to turn discarded plastics into clothes, with its technology able to recycle common plastics found in garments like polyester indefinitely.

It has raised more than $150m since its founding in 2021 and has recruited former Eastman executive Brock Thomas as its chief innovation officer and Isaac Iverson – who spent 15 years working with nylon at Invista.

Mr Thomas said he was attracted to the Australian start-up because it gave him the opportunity to learn new things, including unleashing the power of artificial intelligence to create new enzymes to recycle different plastics.

He also believed that there was still demand for climate tech, despite Mr Trump unwinding dozens of Joe Biden’s green initiatives via executive orders.

US President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to wind back dozens of Joe Biden’s climate initiatives.

“I still think with the consumer, circularity, sustainability are still very, very impactful, and so I don’t think a shift in administration really is changing that drive – a drive for the next generation to be better off than the previous generations. I think some things are going to continue to be mainstay,” Mr Thomas said.

“I do think over the last handful of years, not even as related to the administration shift, but really the impact of inflation and the consumer price impact and the feeling that they had was really what started creating sustainability and circularity to go to the background.

“As we get a bit beyond that situation, that will relieve the pressure with consumer and hopefully get some tailwinds back there.”

Samsara was founded to help combat plastic pollution.

Mr Thomas said that continued engagement with Samsara’s partners, including Lululemon, will help catapult its technology deeper into the mainstream. “We will then just continue to create fuel for the fire, and there will be our early quick wins for us.”

Samsara is building an innovation hub in Canberra and looking to develop commercial recycling plants with joint venture partners that can produce 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes of polymers a year.

It worked with Australian National University to develop a process to break down plastic to its original molecule, which allows it to be recycled indefinitely. This is unlike conventional plastics recycling, which has a limited lifespan before the plastic becomes degraded and unusable.

Samsara can now recycle mixed plastics and fibres including nylon 6,6, nylon 6 and polyester. It created the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 garment with Lululemon, the Swiftly top, and also launched a jacket range made from its enzymatically recycled polyester.

Samsara CEO Paul Riley.

Founder and chief executive Paul Riley says the technology is critical in curbing the “take-make-waste economy” which is “incredibly damaging to our planet”. It is estimated, of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tonnes ends in landfill or incineration.

Mr Riley said the new hires would help the company build scale.

“As we move from that small plant scale to a larger, first of a kind facility, you need a different skill set, and you’re looking for the best of a kind experience in the world to make sure that you can get there as quickly as possible for that first of a kind facility,” Mr Riley said.

“The reality is there’s not a lot of plastics or chemical experience in Australia, unfortunately, due to government policy in the 80s, which saw a lot of those industries go offshore. We need to make sure that we tap into the right people who can, who can assist us in getting to market quickly and at the scale required by our partners.”

Mr Thomas and Mr Iverson will divide their time between Australia and the US.

Originally published as Inflation makes it not easy being green not Trump: Samsara Eco