Professor Veena Sahajwalla AO doesn’t see waste the way most people do.

To her, used materials are not an afterthought, a byproduct of her experiments or something to be pushed out of sight. They’re her primary resource of choice.

And she wants us to think the same way.

“No one would have ever imagined that we could make products from waste that conform to performance requirements,” says Veena. “People assume that if it’s waste, it won’t be good – overcoming those challenges is part of the fun.”

An Australian Research Council Laureate Professor, materials scientist, engineer and inventor, Veena – nicknamed “The Queen of Waste” – is known for her pioneering work transforming waste into high-value materials.

Veena patented Polymer Injection Technology (PIT), also known as Green Steel, in 2003. This process sees used tyres from vehicles ground down to substitute a percentage of coal used in electric arc steel-making furnaces.

Considering steel-making accounts for roughly seven percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, PIT, if used at scale, could be a revolutionary development for the industry and the planet.

“I heard all of these stories about waste tyres being such a big problem and with our Green Steel PIT, I saw a win-win solution for both the environment and the economy,” Veena explains.

Veena’s Green Steel technology has saved millions of tyres from landfill.

She says that growing up in Mumbai taught her how to be innovative with the limited resources and materials around her.

“I was always curious – but also a bit naughty. I was never afraid to challenge the norm knowing full well that there could be consequences.”

This disruptive streak has served Veena well.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service to science in sustainability and waste management and, in 2022, she was named NSW’s Australian of the Year. Her scientific excellence has also been acknowledged through both an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2014 and an ARC Australian Industry Fellowship in 2024, along with numerous other prestigious scientific awards.

Since its invention, Veena’s Green Steel has been commercialised across Australia, Europe and Asia. This technology is responsible for repurposing millions of tyres and reducing emission rates across the industry.

And yet, Veena’s greatest success could have been her greatest loss, had she not caught herself from making a critical mistake.

“You might not necessarily think about patenting on day one but, looking back, you will certainly thank yourself for doing the IP work.”

A week before she was set to showcase Green Steel in a US conference, Veena realised the risk she was taking by presenting her ideas without first securing her intellectual property (IP).

“At that point, I thought it was too late,” said Veena. “I had to leave the country in a week to travel to the US, so I had to stop everything else to meet the provisional deadlines, but we made it happen.”

The University of New South Wales, where Veena works as a professor and founded the UNSW Sustainable Materials Technology and Research (SMaRT) Centre, engaged patent attorneys to guide her through the process.

She credits the “incredible commercialisation ecosystem at UNSW” for helping her to bridge the gap between in-lab innovations and industry-scale solutions.

“The funny thing is, every time I think about patenting something now, I say I’ll give myself more time considering I didn’t have that luxury the first time around. Safe to say that’s never happened since,” she says.

“You might not necessarily think about patenting on day one but, looking back, you will certainly thank yourself for doing the IP work.”

After patenting and completing industry trials for PIT, the next step was for Veena to commercialise the technology. While this progression can appear daunting, Veena believes it’s an exciting step in the inventor’s journey.

“Every time you commercialise something it feels like you’re doing it for the first time, which can actually be fun,” she says. “It never gets boring or stale.”

Her advice? Prepare to be agile.

“The rule book changes every time, depending on the partner, the product and the project.”

Veena now holds over 40 patents for a range of technologies that can reform various wastes into valuable feedstock for remanufacturing.

She’s achieved this by continuing to bring innovation to her existing inventions, rather than shelving them once patented.

Owing to Veena’s continued work improving PIT, wastes including plastics and coffee grounds have joined used tyres as alternatives to coal for steel making.

“It’s not just about us being in the lab, but talking about why we do what we do, and why it matters for the planet.”

Beyond safeguarding her ideas and inventions, she sees patenting as “a powerful way to bring a lot of new partners on board.”

Veena engages engineers, scientists, and research partners across industries, non-profits and governments. Together, they develop innovative environmental solutions for the world’s biggest waste challenges.

“We can do different things depending on what we’re really passionate about, but our vision and goal is common: coming together for the planet,” says Veena.

She says that the answers they’re looking for are often found not by tweaking at the edges, but by taking a radical approach.

“You look at a simple water bottle and say ‘What else can I do with it?’, then convert it into another water bottle,” says Veena. “By not taking a like-for-like approach, we broaden our realm of possibilities.”

“That’s the whole point of patenting – you’re thinking about something counterintuitively.”

Veena shares this outlook with the undergrad and postgrad students at the SMaRT Centre.

“We try to teach the skills that you learn for life. It’s not just about us being in the lab, but talking about why we do what we do, and why it matters for the planet,” she says.

“We want them to know how the experiment looks in the lab, but also how it manifests at a pilot level then industrial scale when moving towards commercialisation”.

Veena collaborates with researchers, scientists and inventors from all over the world in UNSW’s SMaRT Centre.

Her work at the SMaRT Centre has drawn attention from industries beyond manufacturing.

“We’ve had so many people want to visit us, I could be printing out tickets like it’s Disneyland,” jokes Veena. “We’re opening the doors to people from the construction and architecture space who are giving really positive feedback.

“I’ve never had an industry partner go, ‘Don’t bore me with your science.’ The fascination and genuine engagement is there. People want to feel connected to the story and the products they’re using.”

Turning an invention into a scalable solution, though, is no easy feat. Especially when your goal isn’t to mass produce – but to empower localised manufacturing.

Bigger doesn’t always mean better, according to Veena. She says that solutions need to match the size and skillset of the communities they serve.

“It’s not always about economies of scale. On many occasions, it can be about economies of purpose.”

To that end, Veena has developed and trade marked MICROfactoriesTM – small-scale, decentralised facilities that enable communities to transform local waste into valuable products, materials and resources.

While this model rolls out across urban and rural communities across Australia, Veena is working to take MICROfactoriesTM global. Even the World Economic Forum has taken notice.

“If we adopt this new way of thinking and doing things, it will become the norm to show care for the planet and people,” she says.

For prospective inventors and founders, Veena believes persistence and flexibility are the recipe for success.

“Your passion and heart are what brought you to the table and what will keep you going,” she says. “Your head will teach you that there are a whole variety of different solutions that you could be exploring.

“Collectively, we can make a fabulous impact together.”