Your empty cup can hold carbon

Some of the amine groups stand alone, while others bond together to help create porosity within the solid.

The researchers tested this method with a few plastic items, including Styrofoam, a food container, a fork, a CD, and a Lego bowl (which contains a chemical component). They found that the material they developed performed well in carbon capture, both at high CO₂ the amount of tobacco and the decrease in ambient air.

Composition of polystyrene products with and without amines (NH₂ and NH), is an illustration of the capture and release of gases by temperature control.

Fine tuning

The researchers also found that they can control physical properties along the way. They can stop the amine content up or down, and change the part that created the links to build porosity instead of CO.₂– handlers.

Since the amine-containing starting materials they used were derived from oil, they also tried to convert several types of amine-based products into their substitutes. Previous research has shown several ways to do this, but this gives you more complex forms of amines that are less active.

For this reason, they used these amines to enhance urethane foam mattresses and decorative constructions. This worked, creating air-enhanced products made from waste, but the chunkier amine groups made from waste did not fare as well. The price of shares CO₂ was low, and failed to produce CO₂ from the surrounding air.

But polystyrene continued to sell out, and there is a changeable system here. With the right source and method of amines, carbon-based products can be made from plastic overflows to landfills. And even if it’s only half made from plastics, it can still be good. This can provide a market to manage some plastic waste and technically reduce carbon emissions (although a large part of this sector is the energy needed to do this.)

Breathing is not a license to use fuel. I am additions what we can do to combat atmospheric CO₂ very quickly. And the more you can manage the process consistently, the better.

Chem Circularity, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.checir.2026.100027 (About DOIs).