Or sausage!
Posted on 06/23/2021 6:11:16 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Scientists have found an innovative approach to combat the global plastic waste crisis and make something sweeter in the process.
To meet the demands for vanillin, the primary component of vanilla bean extract, and reduce plastic waste, researchers are converting plastic into vanilla flavoring using genetically engineered bacteria, according to a new study published in Green Chemistry. This study marks the first time researchers brewed up a "valuable" chemical compound from plastic waste, reports Damian Carrington for the Guardian.
"This is the first example of using a biological system to upcycle plastic waste into a valuable industrial chemical and this has very exciting implications for the circular economy," study author Joanna Sadler, a biochemist at the University of Edinburgh, says in a statement.
As a lucrative spice, vanilla has a market value predicted to reach $724.5 million by 2025 as demand rapidly increases, reports Kate Ng for the Independent.
Vanillin is what gives vanilla its signature sweet aroma and potent flavor. It is found in various items, including dairy products, soda, and cosmetics, reports Asha C. Gilbert for USA Today. Normally, the chemical compound is distilled from the extract of vanilla beans; however, it can also be made synthetically. Eighty-five percent of the world's vanilla is synthesized from fossil fuels in a two-step process, per the Independent. Vanillin is produced artificially to meet demands that the vanilla bean supply can't meet, reports Yasemin Saplakoglu for Live Science.
Currently, single-use plastics lose 95 percent of their value after use, causing a $110 billion loss to global markets every year, USA Today reports. For every one million plastic bottles sold each minute globally, only 14 percent is recycled, reports the Guardian.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
No thank-you.
At least they are admitting that vanilla is plastic. More than what McDonalds does!
Y’all can have mine.
GACK.
so why are we wasting money shipping(wasting fuel) this stuff around the world to be burned
This is racist science if they can’t make chocolate out of plastic.
So when I put pure vanilla extract into my pie it has nothing to do with plastic? So if I had to drink a shake from McDonald’s chocolate is the one.
For every one million plastic bottles sold each minute globally, only 14 percent is recycled
*****
I thought Kramer and Newman solved that.
Or sausage!
Guess it can’t be as bad as castoreum...or can it?
Styrene.....
yum! yum! eatumup!
I don’t want to know what they make from used condoms.
Too much plastic and not enough demand for vanilla. What about conversion to synthesis gas, a 19th century technology?
No thanks-I don’t eat processed food-no frozen, canned, no packages or boxes, just organic, local produce, fresh fish, meat from free range animals, etc-I only buy vanilla from Mexico-because it really comes from vanilla beans-any frankenfood/artificial item does not fit my organic paleo diet-plastic vanilla flavoring sounds gross-it might not be exactly beneficial for humans, either-why risk it ...
converting plastic into vanilla
Release this one in China.
To Greta: I’m going to be polite and say you go first.
Subway sub shops used the ingredient that makes yoga mats pliable to make the dough easier to work with.
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