JAPAN – Japan Today reports that convenience retailer Lawson is launching a recycling system at its central Japan locations to produce fertilizer from leftover food.

The news source writes that Lawson already has a similar recycling program in western Japan and plans to roll it out in other areas of the country. The initiative will help reduce food waste and the burden on store staff to dispose of unsold food items.

Leftover “bento” box meals and “onigiri” rice balls will be turned into fertilizer at a recycling plant, and the produced fertilizer will be distributed to designated farmers. Those farmers will grow cabbages using the fertilizer, and some Lawson stores in central and western Japan will stock the produce.

As the number of contracted farmers is on the rise, the news source writes that Lawson sees the areas capable of building such a recycling system increasing. "We hope to seek greater understanding of the issue of food waste among consumers" through spreading the local recycling system, a Lawson official said.