Link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2585463-plastic-bottles-can-be-turned-into-edible-vanilla-flavour-cookies/

Plastic bottles and agricultural waste can be converted into consumable cookies via genetically engineered yeast. The team members behind the initiative are currently awaiting institutional approval so they can taste the product.

https://archive.ph/kOZSX

I invite all CEO's to eat these as their only food source for 365 days.

Gotta get their macro plastics in.

I kind of don't get how we're living in a world of environmental awareness and yet everyone buys all these little plastic bottles of water to carry around all the time. I understand the environment is largely not an individual problem, but it's just so amazing to me that individuals that care about the environment, nutrition, and clean food are just constantly generating garbage; and at no small cost to themselves, either, those shrinkwrapped packages are heavy. And for what? So they don't have fill a thermos with tap water and some flavoring? [Edit: USA context, hope y'all are doing better.]

[Edit: I mean, if you're just being performative about your environmentalism, this seems to be accepted behavior.]

It's hard to avoid topping up the landfill even if you're conscientious.

There used to be a package-free grocery in my last city, but it was hard to plan to bring containers for exactly what I needed. They shut down because covid made people distrust the bulk-food set-up, everyone sticking their hands in the same bin kind of thing.

Now it makes me think about how much unavoidable garbage I create just by buying groceries. I have to buy food as part of being a person in the world, and by the time it gets to me it's already packaged. I don't get much choice in the matter.

There's a place near me that sells bulk dry goods in barrels and you bring jars to fill; I don't think anything there is cheap, but they're in a high rent part of town and have been in business for several years... but, yes, I do suppose that would be the solution to a package-free society.

And, yes, it is an illustration of how ultimately the solution to environmental problems is not "everyone individually makes better decisions." What are you supposed to do? Unwrap the chicken and put it in your own reusable bag? I mean, the waste has already been generated, even if you wanted to make a point. Shades of liberating lobsters.

I think the best bet is this kind of thing, yeast and fungus that can break down plastics.

There's biodegradable packaging, but put no stock in that since it either breaks down over too long a timespan or breaks down in contact with the food products its supposed to contain. Plus it doesn't solve the problem of dealing with all the plastic we've already made.

From a Forbes article that is more accessible:

Key Facts

• Southern Illinois University Carbondale researchers have created what they call “µBites,” or protein-rich cookies with core ingredients that began as discarded PET plastic, the same material used in soda bottles, water bottles and leftover corn stalks and leaves.

• The work, conducted as part of a NASA-led project aimed at creating food for deep-space exploration, uses water and oxygen under extreme heat and pressure to break tough plastic and biomass into bite-sized pieces that can be processed by microbes.

• Programmed yeasts then reassemble those fragments into proteins, fats and acids, and a 3D printer extrudes the final mixture into cookie form.

• Flavor is added via baker's yeast engineered to generate vanilla flavoring directly from plant biomass and a separate yeast strain converts ethylene glycol, a molecule found in PET plastic, into beta-carotene, a precursor the body transforms into vitamin A, according to the research team.

• Safety testing has cleared µBites for consumption, but the team is still awaiting institutional sign-off before conducting formal taste tests.

• Smell tests already conducted found most participants said they would eat the cookies in a resource-limited setting, the researchers said.

So we can break plastics down until they are not plastic, the big question is how do we make it profitable to do so? That's the background here, isn't it? Because if something is not profitable, it doesn't get done.

I used to visit South America and they recycled all their soda bottles. If you wanted a liter of that sweet cane sugar coke, you had to bring your empties back to be sanitized and re-filled. If you didn't, there was a hefty fee.

It's really true. Every problem we have comes down to abolishing capitalism.

just wat

It's fucking not enough It's in our blood system now they want us to eat it! Fuck that I don't give a damn the science not going just lay down and eat plastic.

There's a whole article on it. You could read it.

So I understand producing plastic no problem anymore? Yey