Dhaka, Sept. 28 -- Earlier this year, scientists reported a breakthrough in biotechnology. A common bacterium was genetically engineered to convert plastic waste into the widely used painkiller paracetamol.

The bacterium, Escherichia coli (E. coli), was modified by Stephen Wallace, professor of chemical biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh, to digest a plastic-derived molecule and transform it into the drug.

While E. coli is often associated with food poisoning, non-pathogenic strains are widely used in laboratories as the field's main "workhorse."

Prof Wallace has previously engineered E. coli to turn plastic waste into vanilla flavoring and sewer "fatberg" waste into perfume. "If you want to prove something is possible with b...