A new, female-led US-based start-up, Novoloop, has an exciting announcement— they’ve come up with an effective solution to problematic polyethylene (aka the regular everyday plastic that’s polluting our planet).

Scientists and Novoloop founders Jeanny Yao and Miranda Wang have been working for the past five years on a process that can transform plastic waste into high-performance chemicals and materials. 

The brilliant duo claims that they’ve finally succeeded in developing a proprietary process technology called Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition (or ATOD™), that breaks down polyethylene into chemical building blocks that can then be synthesized into high-value products. 

They were also able to raise $11 million in a Series A financing led by Envisioning Partners, together with Valo Ventures, Bemis Associations, and other earlier investors. 

Novoloop’s first product will be Oistre™, which is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) that will have a carbon footprint that is up to 46 percent smaller than regular TPUs. According to the company, Oistre™ can be used in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive, and electronics.

This solution not only keeps hard-to-recycle plastics from littering our oceans and ecosystems but offers us a more sustainable option for sourcing TPUs. Right now, approximately 99 percent of TPUs in circulation are made from virgin fossil fuel based TPU.

“What really compelled us to lead the investment round is that Novoloop has found product-market fit,” said June Cha, a partner at Envisioning Partners. “Novoloop has proven that Oistre has a wide range of applications in the market even at their early stage.”

“Plastics are not going away anytime soon, so we need to innovate to close the gap between what is produced and what is repurposed,” explained Novoloop co-founder and CEO Miranda Wang. “After years of technology development, we’re thrilled to announce backing by high-caliber investors and partners to commercialize this much-needed technology.”