Taichung's plan to give free school lunches is drawing fire for spending big on cooking and then millions more on throwing food away — awkward for the city government, useful for critics.

• The city has set aside about NT$4.15 billion for free school lunches next year, plus NT$82.5 million just to dispose of the leftovers.
• A DPP city councilor wants part of that disposal money shifted to buying commercial food-waste machines instead of paying the same bill every year.
• The education bureau says it handles waste itself so meal quality does not suffer, and argues the machines cost too much per unit.
• Other big cities are moving faster: Taoyuan now subsidizes half the cost of commercial machines for caterers, and Kaohsiung is turning food waste into energy and reusable products.
• Critics say Taichung is focused on small home food-waste units while schools, caterers, markets and restaurants produce the real volume.

Outlook: The free lunch program starts with the new school term at the end of August, so pressure to redirect part of the waste budget will build as the first bills come in.