From Bottle to Cookie

From Bottle to Cookie

How scientists turned a plastic water bottle and corn waste into an edible cookie. Click a step or a part of the picture.

PET bottle Corn waste Hot water + O₂ + pressure Terephthalic acid Ethylene glycol Ferulic acid R. toruloides yeast β-carotene · C₄₀H₅₆ Baker's yeast Vanillin · C₈H₈O₃ µ µBites cookie + starch, fiber, sweetener, 3D printed

Based on research from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Lahiru Jayakody, Sandhya Jayasekara, Ken Anderson), presented at the American Chemical Society Fall 2026 meeting. The step-by-step pathways in the yeast are standard textbook routes; the team has not published their exact enzymes yet.