Wasted food leaves organisers red-faced

TOKYO • Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics yesterday apologised for ordering too much food for their staff during the opening ceremony and letting it go to waste after videos of trucks carting off boxes of uneaten food went viral online.

The organisers, who have been criticised for a series of scandals and for holding the Games amid the Covid-19 pandemic, came in for a fresh lashing for wasting food at the National Stadium, the venue where the Games' opening ceremony took place on Friday.

Thousands of untouched lunch boxes and rice balls were discarded at the stadium as a decision to hold the Games without spectators slashed the number of volunteers there, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television reported last week.

The report was particularly embarrassing for organisers as they have pitched Tokyo 2020 as the "sustainable Games" and that "Tokyo 2020 aims to minimise the adverse impact of resource waste".

That line was publicised on the Games website under the headline "Resource Management: 'Zero Wasting'".

The videos of unconsumed food being thrown away sparked an instant uproar on social media and beyond.

Junko Hitomi, who works at a non-profit organisation called The People that runs a food bank for those in need, told Reuters: "What a waste. I have no other way to put it."

Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya yesterday admitted it was true that there was a surplus of food during the opening ceremony.

"From this week, measures to optimise (food) orders are being implemented at each of the venues, (and) we regret that large amount of over-ordering has occurred up until now," he said, before clarifying the excess food was not disposed of but recycled into animal feed and other uses.

The Tokyo Olympics, postponed by a year due to the pandemic, are being held without spectators at most venues to prevent the spread of infections.

Some 110,000 volunteers were initially expected at the Games, although 10,000 had quit as of last month. There are around 80,000 volunteers, organisers said, not including those managed by the Tokyo government.

REUTERS