130,000 Tokyo Olympic Meals Wasted
The organizers of the Tokyo Games say that during the month starting July 3, about 130,000 meals prepared for the Olympics were thrown away.
It had been reported that about 4,000 boxed lunches and other food prepared for staff and volunteers went uneaten at the Olympics opening ceremony on July 23. Many similar cases of food waste were reported at competition venues.
The organizers told reporters on Friday that they improved their way of placing orders, and cut food waste to 10 to 20 percent of the ordered amount for the latter half of the Olympics. They added that leftovers for the Paralympic opening ceremony on August 24 were limited to about 100 meals among the roughly 6,000 that were procured.
Organizing committee spokesperson Takaya Masanori said that while eliminating food waste is difficult, the committee will work to manage orders appropriately.
The organizers plan to donate leftover bread and other items with relatively long consumption periods to food banks.