almost every plastic out there, from the polyester in clothing to the plastics used for food packaging and electronics, goes back to the use of petroleum as a building block. a cornell university research group has made a environmentally beneficial discovery – how to make plastics from plastics made from orange peel (which contain limonene oxide) and carbon dioxide. by adding a zinc catalyst to a mix of citrus fruits, such as oranges, and carbon dioxide, they found a way to make a new polymer called polylimonene carbonate, very similar to polystyrene, a petroleum-based plastic. it will reduce existing carbon dioxide, almost certainly responsible for the global warming effect, while reducing future emissions. let’s hope that this discovery quickly leaves the lab for practical applications. here is the abstract