World’s first ice cream made with plastic
This vanilla ice cream is the world’s first food made from plastic waste.
Video transcript
- This vanilla ice cream is the world's first food made from plastic waste. According to Reuters, the ice cream art installation is designed by Eleanora Ortolani, with the intention to challenge the way we think about plastic waste and what we are and are not prepared to eat.
Developed by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, the process harnesses the power of bacteria and enzymes to behave as eco-friendly factories to digest the plastic and turn it into vanillin, the molecule that gives vanilla its flavor. Despite its appearance, the ice cream is still a research project and not currently for human consumption. Ortolani shared her design was inspired by her frustration with the failure of the recycling system to stop plastic polluting the environment. What do you think?
