Professor Lahiru Jayakody, from Southern Illinois University, is behind the scheme which sees waste plastics turned into protein-rich food
Biscuits made from waste plastic bottles could help tackle the global food crisis, boffins reckon. The eggheads have turned the rubbish into biccies using special microbes.
They rustled up yeasts to turn the material into the protein-rich treats. And they believe the tech is a new way of upcycling and could feed humans in disaster zones or deep-space missions.
Professor Lahiru Jayakody, from Southern Illinois University in the US, said: “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. Microbes are very clever. So, we are using their traits to solve the problems we created.”
The work is part of a project led by NASA aimed at creating grub for astronauts. The boffins said a common form of plastic is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), often used to make bottles for water and fizzy drinks.
Prof. Jayakody said PET has molecules with lots of carbon that could be rebuilt into protein nosh.
He added: “Global food demand is expected to rise 35% to 56% by the year 2050, and about 30% of the world population will be at risk of hunger in the future.
“The way to address that, I believe, is by using microbes.”
The team is now set to carry out taste tests on the biscuits dubbed Bites.
They are also creating yeasts to produce vanilla flavours from plants.
Student Sandhya Jayasekara, part of the study team, said: “We’re using microbes to develop the cookie into a more attractive, consumer-friendly product.”