I am no fan of plastic and I certainly am cautious when it comes to chemical and technological fixes, but I think the Korean scientists might be on to something with bio-engineered plastics.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/11/23/eco.korea.plastic

From all I have read on this process, all aspects seem less impactful than current methods and the fact that the process pollutes less, is not fossil-fuel dependent, and the plastic biodegrades faster are good signs to me. It will be interesting to see how this technology develops. Will it, for instance, be something that can be done on a small scale so that industrial bi-products can be turned into packaging right at the manufacturing site? Are there agricultural applications or synergies as in milk jugs made from waste milk?

I think this is pretty exciting, but at the same time urge caution. The caution is that we do not let these type of announcements make us think that we can continue to live and waste the way we currently do. This discovery will help us live lighter in the future but cannot distract us from aggressively looking for ways to reduce our waste stream—in particular—our plastic waste.