Australian enviro-tech startup, Samsara has teamed up with Tennis Australia to help reduce plastic waste at this year’s Australian Open (AO).

The partnership sees Samsara collect tennis players’ discarded single-use plastic bottles and divert it to its Canberra recycling lab so it can be infinitely recycled.

Samsara, which is backed by Woolworths, Australian National University and Main Sequence, launched last year on a mission to help end the plastic pollution crisis.

Using plastic-eating enzymes, Samsara’s technology breaks down plastic back to its core building blocks so it can be recreated into brand new plastic, again and again. The process is carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly and doesn’t require any change to consumer behaviour.

During the two-week Australian Open, Samsara is expected to collect approximately 5,000 single-use water bottles.

The partnership comes through Tennis Australia’s venture arm, Wildcard Ventures, which has taken an investment position in Samsara.

Wildcard Ventures joins existing founders including Woolworths Group, The Australian National University and deep tech venture fund, Main Sequence founded by CSIRO, who have joined forces to tackle the plastic waste problem with leading edge science.

Paul Riley, CEO and co-founder of Samsara, said current approaches to recycling don’t go far enough to address the current plastic crisis.

“Samsara is a significant breakthrough because we’re able to make plastic infinitely recyclable, so it no longer ends up in landfills or spilling into our environment. It also means that we never need to make plastic from fossil fuels again”.

“We’re proud to be partnering with Tennis Australia and to help them on their mission to reduce their environmental impact on our planet. Tennis Australia is leading the way in using cutting-edge science to address one of the biggest problems we face and we look forward to seeing others follow suit.”

Tim Jolley, Chief Strategy Officer at Tennis Australia said Tennis Australia is committed to addressing the AO’s environmental impact through a diverse range of sustainability programs.

“As a formal investor in Samsara we have a genuine stake in their future success.”

The partnership between Tennis Australia and Samsara was led by Main Sequence’s social impact community, Voice Capital, which connects individuals and organisations from the fields of entertainment, music, sport and culinary to startups on a mission to change the world in a positive way.

Samsara plans to build its first recycling plant this year with a view to scaling production in 2023.

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