NASA-Backed Cookies Turn Plastic Bottles Into Food

From plastic bottle to protein cookie

Researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have built a process that turns discarded PET plastic bottles and leftover corn stalks into something you could theoretically eat: a 3D-printed cookie called a µBite.

The method starts with oxidative hydrothermal dissolution. Water and oxygen break the plastic and biomass down under high heat and pressure. The resulting liquid feeds programmed yeast strains. Those microbes rebuild the carbon into proteins, fats, and organic acids. The team adds fibre, starch, and sweetener, then extrudes the paste through a 3D printer layer by layer.

Flavour comes from engineered yeast

One yeast strain produces vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its flavour. Another converts ethylene glycol from PET plastic into beta-carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A. The result is a golden cookie with a vanilla aroma that testers described as pleasant.

The researchers presented the work at the American Chemical Society's Fall 2026 meeting in Chicago. Safety tests cleared the cookies for consumption, but formal taste tests still need institutional approval.

Why NASA is interested

The project is part of NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge. Long missions to Mars cannot rely on regular resupply. Food systems that recycle waste into nutrition are a genuine requirement, not a luxury. µBites could also help in disaster zones or remote communities where supply chains fail.

Associate Professor Lahiru Jayakody says the team wants to make the starch, fibre, and sweetener entirely from microbes too. He hopes public consumption could happen within a few years.