Recent Study Shows Plastics Can be Turned Into Medicine

Painkillers of all different sorts and potencies have always been a part of human history. However, the advent of easily accessible, non-addictive pain medicines, such as paracetamol or neurofen, have truly marked a leap forward in managing the aches and pains that come with being alive.

However, as Mongabay points out, more than three quarters of common medicines are derived from fossil fuels, making the industry quite environmentally unfriendly.

Recently, researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have released a study in Nature Chemistry, revealing a method for turning plastics into paracetamol. And the process takes less than a day.

PET Fermentation

According to a University of Edinburgh press release, the primary ingredient used to make the paracetamol is polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET. This lightweight plastic is used to make things such as plastic packaging and water bottles, and creates more than 350 million tons of waste a year. This waste ends up in landfills and oceans.

In order to turn PET into something useful, the researchers used the same fermentation principles as those used in making beer.

According to Mongabay, this process uses phosphate found in bacterial cells to convert terephthalic acid — which is derived from the breakdown of PET — into para-aminobenzoic acid which is then genetically engineered to be converted into paracetamol.

Nearly Zero Carbon Emissions

Though this seems complicated, the University of Edinburgh press release notes that the process of turning the plastic into paracetamol takes less than 24 hours.

This new method of producing paracetamol is exceptionally environmentally friendly. It can be carried out at room temperature, through a process that creates virtually no carbon emissions. In addition, about 90 percent of the PET used is turned into medicine, leaving very little plastic waste.

“This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn’t just waste or a material destined to become more plastic – it can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease,” Professor Stephen Wallace, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Chair of Chemical Biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh, said in the press release.

Though there is still much to be done in order to solve the problem of plastic waste, this is a step in the right direction, and highlights the fact that plastics have the potential to be reused in a wide variety of creative ways.

It is clear that solving the climate crisis will take a lot of ingenuity and creativity. And though it seems like just a drop in the bucket, the University of Edinburgh’s discovery could be the first in a string of discoveries that focus on learning how to transform plastic into products that can help humanity as opposed to harming the earth.