Trash‑to‑drug circular bioeconomy

Researchers demonstrate a pathway to convert PET plastic into the Parkinson’s drug L‑DOPA by breaking PET into terephthalic acid and feeding it to genetically engineered E. coli, with algae capturing excess CO2. This shows that common plastic waste can be a feedstock for high‑value pharmaceuticals rather than merely an environmental liability. — If scalable, plastic‑to‑pharma biomanufacturing could reshape waste policy, pharmaceutical supply chains, carbon accounting, and biosafety/regulation debates.