Seven-Eleven leads Japan’s drive to cut food waste

by KENTO HIRASHIMA and TAKAYUKI YAO

“ecological” is licensed under CC0 1.0

Seven-Eleven Japan will ease a delivery requirement for food makers as part of efforts to reduce food waste.

The operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain will accept short-dated instant noodles that otherwise would have been thrown away under current regulations.

Seven-Eleven is effectively breaking with the “one-third rule,” which requires food makers to deliver products within the first third of the period between the production and expiration dates. Products that are delivered past the date are returned to makers and mostly discarded.

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