Generally, municipal solid waste (MSW) comprises of waste generated from residential households, commercial, and industrial but not included with hazardous clinical and construction wastes. There are more than six million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated annually in Hong Kong and over half of the waste is disposed in the landfills. Unfortunately, the generation of MSW has been growing at a much faster rate than expected, and our consumption-led lifestyle is putting enormous pressure on the landfills. The three existing landfills are anticipated to be completely full and used up in the late 2010?s. And if the waste loads continue to increase, there will be a need to allocate an additional 400 hectares of land to develop a new landfill site to meet our waste disposal needs up to 2030.

And since May 2013, Hong Kong government has published the ?2013-2022 Hong Kong Recycling Blueprint? which discussed holistically on waste management strategies, targets, policies, measures and  action plans through three key elements of: (i) waste minimization policies and regulations that promote behavioral change (ii) clear objectives of waste minimization campaigns and encourage public participation and (iii) improve all existing waste related infrastructure and facilities with response to the current waste problems in Hong Kong.

At present, there are many waste minimization initiatives and for instance, the "Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence Scheme" that recognized Hong Kong enterprises and institutions that able to implement good environmental measures to minimize their waste management through internal organization chain of products and services. The award scheme also involved providing free professional advice on waste management, waste minimization strategy and recognition of business efforts to the public community.

 

Like many other large cities, Hong Kong is densely populated with high consumption pattern of goods that causes a lot of wastage in useful resources and generated an overwhelming amount of wastes to the landfills. The Hong Kong Eco Park in Tuen Mun with the area size of about 14 hectares can only accommodate the daily production of solid waste to be fully recycled in less than 5% in the society. And at the worst scenario, many of the remaining waste are not directly sent to landfills, but irresponsibly transported out from the territory that eventually causes secondary pollution and violated the international environmental standards.

 

On the other hand, most of the public has minimum exposure and awareness of waste separation at source. Besides, the government has also failed to implement sustainable environmental education and protection of integrated waste management system in the society. And over the past decade, the government only emphasized on the end-of-pipe treatment instead of a good separation of waste at source and waste minimization. In addition, most of the government policies on waste management often react slowly and commonly the government is reluctant for any further innovation and environmental technology advancement.

A short review article that I concluded together with Mr. Eddie Chan, President of Green Technology Consortium (GTC), Hong Kong during my recent abroad environmental internship visit to Hong Kong SAR of People's Republic of China