Future Challenges:
Food Waste Management
Food waste management is becoming an increasingly
worrying problem in Hong Kong and one we can't
ignore for much longer. Tsz Kit Wong explains more.
Have you just finished your meal? Do you or someone you know often leave
much behind? In Hong Kong, this seems to be a worrying trend and it has been
known that leaving food on your plate is a sign of how wealthy you are. So what
will happen if this behaviour continues to grow? While I am not here to talk about
the global food crisis (although this is a serious problem too) the current situation
in Hong Kong would certainly contribute to larger food waste problems in the
long run.
If you have read the report released by the government in 2013 on Blueprint for
Sustainable Use of Resources, you will find that nearly half of municipal solid
wastes come from putrescibles, i.e.around 3650 tones. Two thirds of them
actually come from households. To deal with this issue, the Kowloon Bay Pilot
Composting Plant and Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme was launched
in 2008. There is also the Organic Waste Treatment Facility in Siu Ho Wan which
will be renovated in 2017 and be much larger than the existing one. All the
organic waste will be degraded into fertilizers and made available for local
farmers to use.
However, I still think the best way of dealing with the waste problem would be to
reduce the generation of unnecessary products. As future educators, we IEd
students should pay more attention to those environmental-related issues and
pass on the importance of environmental conservation to students. Education
plays one of the most important roles in changing the behavior of students and
the behaviour of society in years to come.
ISSUE 04: MARCH 2016
Finally, we need to remember
that it's not only the
government that takes on this
responsibility, but you, me and
the general public who also
need to take action in shaping a
sustainable community, and
also a greener Earth. So next
time you're ordering food,
maybe think twice!
Tsz Kit Wong
is studying
Education for
Sustainability at
HKIEd. He is
interested in
ecology,
environmental
science, and
music.
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