Commuters at a Yokohama train station can now grab discounted baked goods from automated lockers that rescue food before it winds up in the garbage, reported Eco-Business.
The unit, called an "SDGs locker," debuted at Kanazawa-Bunko Station in early December. After shops shut down for the night, they stock the machine with leftover bread and pastries at roughly a third off the regular price.
Customers can buy the goods through the night's final departure using cashless options like tap-to-pay cards or smartphone codes.
Japan throws away enormous amounts of food that's still safe to eat. During the 2023 fiscal year alone, the nation tossed out roughly 5.11 million tons. Getting rid of all that uneaten food pumps upwards of 11 million tons of heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere every year, according to government estimates.
These staffless kiosks are a smart fix for cities where space is tight. Train stations make ideal spots because thousands of people pass through them daily, giving the food a much better chance of finding a home.
Yokohama, which became Japan's first major municipality to deploy the lockers through a city-backed program, now operates seven units. Officials expect each one to divert upwards of 13 tons of edible food from landfills per year.
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Other cities are catching on. Sapporo and Fukuoka have started testing or studying their own versions, and local governments nationwide have reached out to learn more.
"We decided to handle food loss reduction in order to target Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goals that are familiar to citizens … Through this initiative, we are working to reduce food loss and CO2 emissions," Yokohama city said in a press release, per Eco-Business.
If you live in an area with programs like this, pick up marked-down items close to their sell-by date to keep good food out of the trash and put money back in your pocket. Apps and pickup points for leftover food are popping up in more places, so it's worth checking what options exist near you.
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