Before the yeast can start feasting, the PET plastics are subjected to a process called oxidative hydrothermal dissolution to break them down into smaller bits that the microbes can digest.

Sensationalism aside, this could actually be a big deal. We use a lot of PET (polyethylene). Plastic drink bottles, plastic bags, plastic wrap, tape, fabrics, even some car parts. PET is a huge market segment of consumer products that are difficult to replace with environmentally friendly alternatives.

If we can boil it and then feed it to a vat of yeast to break down, that would be fantastic. Even better, it could remove some of the difficulty of plastic sorting which is a major part of the recycling problem. Basically, if you dump some plastic into the vat that the yeast can't eat, well it just won't eat it, so just sift it out of the vat later for a different disposal process, no big deal.

Even if humans can't directly consume the byproduct, I'm sure we can use it for something else.

My biggest question is how long this takes, which they don't address in the article. How long do you have to boil the material (how much energy, how much water, how much oxygen, how big a facility to process X volume of waste), and how long does it take the yeast to break it down? If it can be done in hours or days that's well worth spending some resources to build a processing center. If it takes months or years it will require more planning and analysis.

First it was bugs as protein .

Then it was poo burgers .

Now it's trash cookies.

What's next?

Wait they haven’t even tasted it? If I was a scientist turning plastic into food I would be at least licking it.

This is basically the plot of the the body horror movie "Crimes of the Future" where humans modify themselves to be able to eat the "new food" that is readily available, plastic waste. It is not meant to be hopeful.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14549466/

This should be the diet of oil oligarchs and politicians who continue to suppress efforts to reduce fossil fuel use

While this could be good, I think about this much older article that talks about somewhat similar things, specifically

turkey offal, tires, plastic bottles, harbor-dredged muck, old computers, municipal garbage, cornstalks, paper-pulp effluent, infectious medical waste, oil-refinery residues, even biological weapons such as anthrax spores

but they ended up only doing (what I remember being) the turkey offal. The article mentioned here says

plastic compounds and agricultural byproducts like discarded plant stalks into proteins, fats, acids, and flavorings

and while it has been 20+ years, my concern is that it will end up doing much less than promised. But I can hope for more.

Has anyone read Diamond Age? I'd suggest you give it a try, even with the weird Stephenson jumps near the end, it explores molecular level production of products, including food.

I feel this work is a huge deal for NASA and other space flight tech dev. Instead of trying to pack a ship with cookies, pack it with plastic and convert as needed.

"We produce 400 million tons a year of plastic waste. You’re not going to turn it all into cookies."

That's quitter talk. Have you seen the shit Americans eat? We could do 400 million tons of cookies and a large diet coke without flinching.

Fuck micro plastics, we got macro plastics

They haven’t actually eaten one of their µBites yet

Wait... that's could have been a NileRed video!

there was a study during WW2 germany whether factories could produce synthetic food from petroleum ... i'm not entirely sure what the outcome of this was, actually, i should read up on it some day.

"They [university students] haven’t actually eaten one of their µBites yet, as they wait for university approval."

LOL yeah right - same reason I never drank beer in college. Waiting for approval!

They haven’t capitalized on feeding us our own shit… until now!

Ask your doctor if Plastic is right for you.

I want all the scientists working on this to eat about 20 of these cookies every week and report back in 6 months after they've had their doctors do a physical on them and tell us how they're doing.

I’d absolutely eat plastic cookies if they have enough fiber

Aren’t twinkies basically plastic?

The yeast breaks down the components of plastic compounds and agricultural byproducts like discarded plant stalks into proteins, fats, acids, and flavorings that we can eat.