Taiwanese councilor questions spending on school lunch waste, proposes machine purchase

A city councilor in Taichung, Taiwan, has raised concerns about the significant expenditure on food waste disposal associated with the city's free school lunch program. Councilor Cheng Kung-chin pointed out that while the city plans to allocate approximately NT$4.15 billion for free lunches in the upcoming fiscal year, an additional NT$82.5 million is earmarked for processing the resulting food waste.

Cheng argued that this approach, which involves spending billions on meals only to spend millions more on disposal, is inefficient. He proposed that the city should invest in commercial-grade kitchen waste machines. Such machines, he suggested, could permanently resolve the issue of food waste and eliminate the need for annual disposal budgets. He noted that other major Taiwanese cities, like Taoyuan and Kaohsiung, are already implementing similar waste management strategies, including subsidies for commercial waste processors.

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Why not purchase commercial kitchen waste machines? It could be a permanent solution, eliminating the need for annual waste processing fees.

Councilor Cheng specifically suggested reallocating a portion of the NT$82.5 million budget for food waste processing to fund the purchase of commercial kitchen waste machines. He also recommended implementing a "clean plate" reward system to encourage food waste reduction. Cheng believes that focusing on household waste machines is insufficient, as schools, catering companies, markets, and large communities are the primary sources of substantial food waste.

However, Education Bureau Director Chiang Wei-min stated that the current budget is necessary to ensure the quality of school lunches. He explained that the city prefers to manage food waste internally to prevent any impact on lunch quality by catering companies. Chiang also indicated that commercial waste machines, costing over a million New Taiwan dollars each, are likely too expensive for the city to purchase, making the current approach the only viable option.

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To avoid the quality of school lunches being affected by caterers processing food waste, the city government allocates its own budget for waste processing. As for purchasing commercial kitchen waste machines, each costing over a million dollars, it might not be feasible.