Plastic Bottles Become Protein-Rich Cookies in New μBites Research
A Southern Illinois University Carbondale research team has created μBites, a protein-rich cookie made from plastic waste. The cookie starts as PET plastic bottles, which are broken down by a process called oxidative hydrothermal dissolution, then fed to engineered yeast that rebuilds the material into food ingredients. The team developed it for NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge and presented the work at the American Chemical Society Fall 2026 meeting.