It was projected that Hong Kong would strike maximum capacity for its existing landfills in 2020. But now that seems like an overestimate.

Hong Kong is generating roughly 921 kilograms of waste per person a year. That is a ton of waste, no pun intended. What is surprising is that almost half of the waste generated is food-related.

To mitigate the current waste problem, Hong Kong has created a Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources.

Hong Kong's target is to reduce waste up to 40 percent by the year 2020. They have adopted their action plan from cities such as Taipei, Seoul, and Tokyo that have successfully mitigated their waste by a high percentage.

To create this massive overhaul of waste reduction, the people of Hong Kong should not simply rely on technology or the government to be their savior, but look to prevention.

Outlined in the Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources is a ranking of how Hong Kong should mitigate waste. Prevention stands at the top of the list, followed by reuse, recycling, recovery, and lastly landfills. 

Currently, there has been much controversy over the expansion of the Tseung Kwan O landfill and the placement of the waste incinerator plant in Shek Kwu Chau.

Although, the expansion of the landfill and the building of the incinerator will alleviate some of the problem, the waste will only increase with time and the growing of population.

Hopefully, this recent controversy over the proposed incinerators will lead citizens to rethink how their waste is being managed and reconsider their garbage disposal habits. 

However, a study recently conducted by the City University of Hong Kong found that 42 percent of Hong Kong residents do not know when the landfills will hit capacity. Thus, the need for a citywide education program is important to curb this problem. 

Along with taking the steps to build infrastructure to handle the increasing waste, it is necessary for policymakers to take the proper steps to educate the public about their waste situation.

Educating the public will create not only awareness but also urgency in dealing with this filthy problem. This in turn can create collective action between the private sector, citizens, and elected officials. 

As Secretary for the Environment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Wong Kam-sing said that the government and the people of Hong Kong should work together to reduce waste and the society should mobilize to take action step by step.

Therefore, education and encouraging the reduction of food waste at the source will help bring Hong Kong closer to its goal by 2020.

The risk of inaction is far too high when considering thousands of tons of waste is being generated in Hong Kong daily.  To put that into perspective, that is the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

Tyler Sam, a graduate student from Arizona State University