The sweet treat of the future could be plastic. Scientists have found a way to transform plastic waste, along with other food additives and ingredients, into edible cookies. The method could combat refuse accumulation and provide sustenance in remote or disaster locations — or in space someday. However, many are understandably unsure about eating plastic, and there’s a long road ahead before the cookies can hit shelves.
From bottle to bakery
According to research that was presented at the fall 2026 meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), scientists have “programmed yeasts to turn plastic and agricultural waste into edible proteins and flavoring molecules,” creating a treat deemed µBites (micro bites), said an ACS news release. The cookies could tackle food shortages and plastic pollution.
We were “trying to develop technologies for plastic upcycling to make more valuable products. We thought: Why not focus on making food? Because plastic is carbon, and food is carbon,” said Lahiru Jayakody, a microbiologist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale who worked on the study, in the release.
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Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, from plastic bottles and “discarded sweet corn plant stalks and leaves” were put through a process called “oxidative hydrothermal dissolution,” which “uses heat to break down the materials into components that microbes can digest,” said New Scientist. The components are “fed to yeast that has been genetically altered using CRISPR gene-editing technology,” allowing it to “convert the components into a variety of useful ingredients, including proteins, fats and acids, as well as vanilla flavoring and beta-carotene, which the body can convert into vitamin A.” Then “fiber, starch and sweetener are added, and the paste is extruded through a 3D printer into any desired shape.” Thus µBites are produced.
Bite-size solution
While the “futuristic treats received high ratings on overall aroma and the underlying science implies that µBites are safe to eat, researchers still must wait for institutional approval before beginning actual taste tests,” said Popular Science. “It has a pleasant, appealing aroma,” said graduate student Sandhya Jayasekara, who worked on the study, to New Scientist. “We have not tasted it, but it smells good, like a real cookie.”
Still, plastic cookies likely won’t be a sought-after delicacy. “We produce 400 million tons a year of plastic waste. You are not going to turn it all into cookies,” said Jason Hallett, a professor and researcher at Imperial College London, to New Scientist. It’s “not a solution to the plastic-waste crisis.”
Rather than becoming a mainstream treat, the “µBites system is a tunable and portable device that integrates all necessary components” that could be “deployed in submarines or disaster relief vehicles to produce on-demand, on-site food,” said Jayakody to ScienceAlert. The process is also “particularly suited for using carbon waste in extreme environments such as deserts, the Arctic or the Antarctic to make food” and potentially even “on Mars or the lunar surface.”
