Nutritious lunches for primary and secondary schools in Taipei will be fully free this semester. Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua pointed out that food waste has accumulated more than 1,287 metric tons in the first half of this year. After nutritious lunches are made free, if the quality of lunches is not improved, the annual food waste may exceed 2,576 metric tons, far exceeding the 1,287 metric tons in 2025. 665 metric tons. Next year, the city government will spend more than 44 million yuan to deal with school food waste. The problem of leftover food continues to worsen. The city government is required to propose specific improvement plans within one month, including a comprehensive review of dishes, establishment of a food waste monitoring mechanism, inventory of school food waste flows, and confirmation that all decontamination pipelines are legal and safe.
Xu Shuhua pointed out that free lunches are certainly a good thing for parents, but before the policy was hurriedly implemented, the amount of food waste in schools was already soaring. The result is likely that even if lunches are free, children still don’t want to eat them, and there will be more food waste, which will ultimately cost more tax money to deal with.
She pointed out based on the figures presented in the special report of the Education Bureau in Parliament on August 20 this year that the amount of food waste in public schools below high school will be approximately 1,133 metric tons in 2024 and will increase to approximately 1,665 metric tons in 2025, an increase of nearly 47% in one year. From January to June this year, more than 1,287 metric tons have accumulated, and it is likely to reach 2,576 metric tons by the end of the year. In just three years, the amount of food thrown away by children may more than double.
She said that when the problem of leftover food in schools continues to worsen, the city government does not first improve the quality of lunches, but instead puts "free" on the table. Since lunch, which children were not willing to eat in the first place, is now completely free, the food waste will probably be more, not less. In the end, taxpayers will have to foot the bill. The city government has included the cost of food waste removal in each school into next year's budget. Based on the city's 7,933 classes in schools below high school, with 30 students in each class, and each person producing 85 grams of food waste per day, 200 days a year, the disposal fee per metric ton is estimated to be 10,000 yuan, and a total of 40,458,300 yuan has been budgeted. An additional NT$3.83 million has been allocated to cover food waste disposal costs that exceed the original estimate, totaling more than NT$44 million.
Xu Shuhua said that Jiang Wanan cannot only pursue "free", but let the quality of the food supply be ignored and the food waste problem continue to worsen; while spending money to let the children eat free lunch, he also spent more than 44 million yuan to deal with the food that the children cannot finish. She asked the city government to propose specific improvement plans within a month, including publishing school-by-school food waste statistics, identifying the schools with the worst food waste, and explaining the reasons. Comprehensively review the dishes, portion sizes and food quality, and propose specific improvement measures and timelines. Establish a food waste monitoring mechanism and regularly disclose relevant data. Check the flow of food waste in schools and confirm that all decontamination channels are legal and safe.
