Quaternary ammonium salts (QASs) are a group of chemicals manufactured and used on a mass scale around the world. Their favorable surface properties and biological activity have resulted in decades of use as cleaning agents, emulsifiers, preservatives, algicides, cosmetic additives, as well as antiseptics and disinfectants . However, the increasing use of conventional, fully synthetic QASs, particularly evident in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic , represents a significant environmental burden due to their limited biodegradability, accumulation tendencies and their very high toxicity toward organisms present in water and soil . Due to the persistence of QASs in the environment at constant, low concentrations, there is also a genuine risk of widespread acquisition of resistance by pathogenic microbes to this most commonly used type of disinfectants . Moreover, due to their good surface properties and ability to form micelles, QASs may also be responsible for the spread of hydrophobic toxic substances in the environment .