In Japan, the total amount of food waste discharged from food-related industries amounted to 11.35 million ton in FY2006. The waste discharge is composed of:

The rate of reuse of the food waste was highest in food manufacturing/processing industries (81%), followed by food wholesale industries(62%), food retailers (35%), and that of food service industries was the lowest (22%). The food production / processing industries have the highest(81%); the reasons are because it is easy to secure the required amount to reuse and the composition of food waste maintains the same. The most of food waste in food production / processing industries are reused as manure and feed for livestock.

In December 2007, Japan’s Food Recycling Law was revised, which designated that the rate of reuse of food waste in the food retailing industries to be raised up to 45 % by the end of 2012.

In this consequence, on 19 May 2010, Ito-Yokado Co.,Ltd. made an announcement that it has decided to establish a new corporate called Seven Farm Co. in order to expand the company’s food-recycling network. A farming corporation called Seven Farm Tomisato Co. already started a complete recycling agriculture in Chiba Prefecture since 2008, based on reuse of waste food collected in nearby districts. Ito-Yokado Co.,Ltd from now on intends to expand nationwide their complete recycling agriculture system in order to raise recycle rate of waste food up to 45 %.

Meanwhile, three companies Takenaka Corporation, Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co.,Ltd and Teral Inc. jointly announced, on 13 May 2010, that they successfully developed a practical urban biogas system, and that this system was adopted in the Tower Pavilion of Abenobashi Terminal Building in Osaka City. The system generates methane gas making use of waste food and kitchen wastewater etc. that are discharged from hotels, restaurants and department stores etc. of the complex terminal building. The methane gas is used as fuel for gas engines and boilers to generate electricity and heat. This system’s big merit or sales point is that waste food discharged from urban high-rise buildings located in the city center can be reused as energy on the spot.

Table  Waste Food discharged from Food Related Industries (FY2006)

Kind of Food-related Industry	Waste Food Discharged	Inhibition (%)1	Weight Reduction (%)2	Reuse (%)3	Attained Reuse Rate (%)1 + 2 + 3
Food Manufacturing and Processing Industries	495	5	4	72	81
Food Wholesale Industries	74	4	2	56	62
Food Retailers	262	5	2	28	35
Food Service Industries	304	4	3	16	22
Total	1,135	5	3	46	53

 

Fig.  Waste Food discharged from Food Related Industries (FY2006)

 

Fig.  Complete Recycling Agriculture

Sources:
1) Statistic Data of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (FY2007), 2) a press release of Ito-Yokado Co.,Ltd 3) a press release of Takenaka Corporation
et al