Tokyo 2020 organisers have vowed to reduce the amount of food waste ©Getty Images

Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics insist they are reducing the amount of food waste at the Games here after revealing roughly 130,000 meals had been discarded during the Olympics.

The lunch boxes had been prepared for staff and volunteers between July 3 and August 3 across 20 Olympic venues only to be thrown away, according to Tokyo 2020.

An investigation into food wastage was launched by organisers after it was reported that around 4,000 lunch boxes were discarded at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on July 23.

Tokyo 2020 confirmed that food being thrown away was cut to 10 to 20 per cent of the amount ordered during the latter part of the Olympics which ran until August 8.

"The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has analysed what happened during these Games and have been managing and scrutinising the number of lunch boxes ordered in order to avoid wastage as much as possible," said Masa Takaya, spokesperson for Tokyo 2020.

"The Organising Committee has been trying to ensure that all the lunch boxes are consumed by communicating in an email to each party placing an order, urging them to use them.

"About 130,000 lunch boxes were discarded and that number related to 20 venues so back then the ration [of food waste] was 25 per cent.

"Across the board during the Olympic Games especially during the latter half of the Games there has been an improvement.

"Unfortunately we cannot give the exact number but we have made improvement by 10 per cent to less than 20 per cent in terms of the food waste."

Tokyo 2020 organisers were criticised over the amount of food waste during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics ©Getty Images
Tokyo 2020 organisers were criticised over the amount of food waste during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics ©Getty Images

Tokyo 2020 confirmed it had been in contact with food banks to ensure the food does not go to waste.

Takaya said about 100 of the 6,000 pre-ordered meals were thrown away at the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics on August 24.

"Initially there were concerns that we had discarded a lot of food," said Takaya.

"We have been addressing this issue.

"As we progress through different phases the food waste has been reduced and we are gradually making improvements.

"In some cases we may have no access at all for lunch and dinner so we are continuing to see improvements in various venues.

"It might be difficult to eliminate this down to zero.

"Of course, we would like to control and manage the number of lunch boxes being ordered."