Look around Beijing and it will be obvious why the Olympics is not just the greatest sporting event, but also one that offers the best packaging. Think of the red-stamped Beijing Games logo and its five lucky Fuwa mascots, now inextricably linked with the five Olympic Rings.

From bunting lining the broadest of boulevards to food delivery outlets handing out pamphlets on the best deals in town, it is hard to go wrong by being associated with the Games.

Except when it comes to cleaning up.

Along with all the packaging and paraphernalia of the Games comes the extra effort needed to collect and process the waste being created.

Beijing's 31 Olympic venues are expected to produce about 14,000 tons of trash, including paper and plastic products, during the sports events alone.

The capital was already generating more than 15,000 tons of domestic garbage daily before the Games, environment authorities have said. To cope with this, the city has more than 20 domestic waste disposal plants and 13 major landfill sites. There are six recycling plants in Beijing, mainly for paper and plastic.

Still, about 500 tons of garbage is said to end up in suburban areas of the capital every day.

Meanwhile, cities across the nation generate at least 120 million tons of garbage annually, with the figure growing at 8 percent a year, official figures have showed.

Having a "green Olympics" is one of the goals of the authorities in hosting the Games. It is an undeniable recognition of the need to consider the environment in any endeavor in these times and dealing with garbage in cities forms a large part of that equation.

London aims to avoid sending waste to landfill sites when it hosts the next Olympics in four years. The organizers are reportedly working with Olympic delivery authorities, waste management companies and contractors to make sure packaging and products that will eventually become waste during the Games can be recovered or recycled.

In its bid to host the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo is also offering itself as a Japanese city of the future with an eye on marrying urbanization with environmental sustainability - in part by proposing landfill sites as major venues of the Games.

The Beijing municipal authorities are well aware of the need to deal with the increasing amount of waste being generated. In line with the environmental commitments it made as part of its bid to hold the Games, the capital set the aim to process 99 percent of domestic waste in its central area and 90 percent of that from the suburbs by 2010.

Garbage collection and recycling projects at Olympic venues are also in place, as part of a pledge to recycle about half of the waste being produced.

The Beijing Games got off to an equally great start with more than 80 percent of about 100 tons of garbage produced during its opening ceremony on Aug 8 recycled, organizers said.

And other than a formidable army of street cleaners and gardeners to keep Beijing clean and green, the Olympics has already helped plant more recycling bins in its host city this year.

Now it is up to the man, woman and child on the street to make a conscious effort to limit garbage and ensure it ends up in the right place, because the best way to reduce and recycle is to encourage and instill these green habits.

Taking out the trash? Try sorting that out into paper, glass, plastic and organic first. Looking for a rubbish bin? Why not help pick up some litter at the same time?

The Games is showing how beautiful Beijing can be, so let that be a start to a greener future.

alexishooi@chinadaily.com.cn