Bacteria can turn plastic waste into a painkiller

Tylenol could potentially be made greener and cheaper with the help of bacteria. Scientists were able to use a bacterial chemical reaction to convert a plastic water bottle into paracetamol with no environmental strain. This development could alter the way drugs are produced and provide a much-needed solution to the plastic pollution problem.

Plastic pills

The bacteria Escherichia coli or E.coli, common in the gut microbiome, can be used to break down plastic into paracetamol, according to a study published in the journal Nature Chemistry. Paracetamol, or acetaminophen, is the main active ingredient in the painkiller Tylenol. It is generally produced using fossil fuels, namely crude oil, which has been known to worsen climate change. But "by merging chemistry and biology in this way for the first time, we can make paracetamol more sustainably and clean up plastic waste from the environment at the same time," said Stephen Wallace, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and the lead author of the study, to The Guardian.

The researchers triggered a chemical reaction in E.coli known as the Lossen rearrangement that "until now had only been observed in test tubes," said Spanish newspaper El País. The E.coli was genetically modified to be able to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in food packaging and bottles, and ultimately produce paracetamol. This process can occur at room temperature and produces no carbon emissions. "It enables, for the first time, a pathway from plastic waste to paracetamol, which is not possible using biology alone, and it's not possible using chemistry alone," Wallace said to Science News.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Break it down

While it will take time before the painkiller can be widely produced using this method, "this could mark part of a broader shift toward more sustainable, biology-based manufacturing practices, both in the pharmaceutical industry and in plastic recycling," El País said. Plastic waste has been known to harm the environment and can pollute waterways and leach chemicals into the ecosystem. Microplastics have also been found almost everywhere on Earth and in our bodies. "I genuinely think this is quite an exciting sort of starting point for plastic waste upcycling," Wallace said.

PET plastic "creates more than 350 million tons of waste annually," said a news release about the study. While PET recycling is possible, "existing processes create products that continue to contribute to plastic pollution worldwide." This research could be the solution to the pollution. The study's findings indicate that "PET plastic isn't just waste or a material destined to become more plastic," Wallace said in the release. "It can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease."

This is not the first time bacteria have been used to break down plastic, and it likely will not be the last. However, the ability to create medicine from plastic introduces a fresh area of research. "Based on what we've seen, it's highly likely that many — or even most — bacteria can perform these kinds of transmutations," Wallace said. "This opens up a whole new way of thinking about how we might use microbes as tiny chemical factories."