Title: Novomer's Eco-Friendly Plastics Reduces Greenhouse Gas

Industry sector: Other

Plastics are a favorite target for environmentalists because they're slow to biodegrade, typically require petroleum to create, and eat up a lot of landfill space. But imagine if the material actually helped reduce greenhouse gases. That's the type of product that Novomer, a startup spun off from Cornell University, has created. Its plastics are made largely from CO2 captured from factories and are suitable for everything from disposable utensils to industrial coatings.

This sounds too good to be true, and in a way, it is. For now, Novomer's plastics still require some molecular building blocks known as epoxides, which are derived from oil, and are only "50% to 65% carbon dioxide," says CEO Jim Mahoney. But researchers are working on developing plant-based epoxides, so Novomer could eventually eliminate oil entirely.

Another question is whether the company's plastics should be biodegradable. Mahoney says that they can be, but that the CO2 would then be re-released back into the atmosphere. Many potential Novomer partners, he says, "are thinking they'd rather have CO2 locked up in a plastic or polymer, which can be recycled."