FANTASTIC PLASTIC

Prof's Scots team find recycled carbon could treat disease

- BY JACKIE GRANT

VALUABLE Bottles are a 'vast, untapped source of carbon'

SCIENTISTS at a Scots university claim a material found in everyday plastic waste could be used to treat Parkinson's disease.

The pioneering recycling method could help transform the lives of more than eight million people living with the condition.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh engineered E. coli bacteria to turn a type of plastic used in food and drink packaging-polyethylene terephthalate, or PET - into L-DOPA.

The process involves first breaking down PET waste - some 50million tons of which are produced annually - into chemical building blocks of terephthalic acid.

Molecules of the acid are then transformed into L-DOPA by the engineered bacteria through a series of biological reactions.

The university team say using the technique to produce L-DOPA is more sustainable than traditional methods of making pharmaceuticals, which rely on the use of fossil fuels.