Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol

The discovery opens up the possibility of a more sustainable process for producing paracetamol, which ‘currently comes from oil’. Photograph: Allison Dinner/EPA

Bacteria can be used to turn plastic waste into painkillers, researchers have found, opening up the possibility of a more sustainable process for producing the drugs.

Chemists have discovered E coli can be used to create paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, from a material produced in the laboratory from plastic bottles.