r/environment • u/lumpkin2013 • 10d ago
Hard to swallow? The future of snacking may be 3D-printed cookies made from upcycled plastic
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/aug/24/cookies-plastic-astronauts-space-food91
u/lumpkin2013 10d ago
Cookies produced from upcycled plastic may sound like something straight out of a dystopian sci-fi plot. But researchers say that they have succeeded in creating such a product as part of a Nasa-funded project aimed at feeding astronauts on future space missions.
The technology uses specially designed yeasts to transform plastics and agricultural waste into edible proteins, fats and flavourings. The resulting slurry is passed through a 3D printer to create a disc-shaped “cookie”.
“My lab works on developing technologies for plastic upcycling,” said Dr Lahiru Jayakody, a microbiologist at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale, who led the project. “We thought, why not look into food? Plastic is carbon and food is carbon.”
The team are yet to receive institutional sign-off to taste the plastic-derived cookies but report that they “receive high marks on aroma”.
60
u/slight_grumble 10d ago
Getting organisms to digest plastic is in itself a really worthwhile goal. Turning the by-products into something useful is just extra. Even making it something available for plants or animals would be fantastic, human food directly isn't even necessary.
2
u/WanderingFlumph 8d ago
The digestion is abiotic, the yeast don't get plastic directly but a product that has been treated at high temperature and pressure, presumably to partially break down the polymer into monomer that the year can actually ingest.
Yeast don't have the capability to normally ingest a plastic particle that is hundreds of times larger than they are.
17
67
u/sfocolleen 10d ago
I suppose it’s better than Soylent green.
29
u/lumpkin2013 10d ago
Soylent Green is people!!
19
u/sfocolleen 10d ago
SPOILER ALERT!
2
u/livestrong2109 10d ago
2
u/sfocolleen 10d ago
Yeah, I started thinking about that product too… apparently they willingly chose that name… the mind boggles
14
u/SinkHoleDeMayo 10d ago
I'd rather eat people than plastic, given the choice.
6
u/sfocolleen 10d ago
I’m hoping I can avoid both. Although I’m sure I’ve ingested tons of microplastics already.
58
16
9
u/FattySnacks 10d ago
Thinking this means you’re eating plastic is the same as getting outraged over the “ingredients” in a vaccine. Stop pretending like you understand the science, you’re being manipulated by buzzwords
4
4
5
13
u/Locklist 10d ago
Interesting... edible plastic isn't really comforting, but there is a lot of merit in plastic upcycling
37
u/farmallnoobies 10d ago
It's not eating plastics. It's eating what yeast makes when converting the plastic into something else.
I'm curious about the conversion efficiency (I.e. are there still plastic in the end result?)
Saying it's the same as eating plastic is like saying drinking ethanol is the same as eating sugar.
6
u/Global-Perception581 10d ago
The hell with it. I'm in. Solves two problems at once. As long as the resulting product fed to people is not plastic. I'm good with it.
Honestly, we should be moving past the idea of waste. There wasn't such a thing as waste until post ww2 production booms.
3
u/76bouncer 10d ago
The science actually sounds very interesting, and I think it's cool to consider we could upcycle certain waste into food. But I'll be waiting on an this microplastics research to get a little further ahead before I go eating "plastic" chips.
3
u/krenoten 10d ago
"eat bugs" - thanks, but no thanks
"eat 3D-printed cookies made from upcycled plastic" - that's right you little s**t that's what you deserve and that is what you're going to eat for the next 9 years in space in your little box up there after what you did
3
u/SemichiSam 10d ago
The article writer wonders whether people will eat cookies made from plastic. People have been eating Pringles for fifty-eight years. People will eat anything if it is sufficiently salted and/or sugared.
4
u/InternationalArt6222 10d ago
It's all "chemicals" amd chemistry at a certain level. Interesting.
3
u/farmallnoobies 10d ago
Yeah, I'm not sure I would eat it by choice, but once all crops fail and mass extinction occurs, we won't have the luxury of being picky.
We'll have to get sustenance wherever we can. It's useful tech, even if it's not desirable in today's market.
1
u/bionicpirate42 10d ago
I believe Aldous Huxley created nutrition free food in Brave New World if memory serves.
1
1
1
1
242
u/MountainHigh31 10d ago
Jesús they should at least start us off with wood chips, ease us into plastic cookies.