Fukuoka: Bread Coin Lockers Installed in Stations to Reduce Food Waste

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:02 JST, March 28, 2026

FUKUOKA — Hoping to reduce food waste, a city initiative lets leftover bread and other baked goods that are still in their best-by period be purchased at coin-operated lockers at subway stations in Fukuoka.

The city entrusted a company that manages coin-operated lockers with the installation and operation of the lockers. The firm installed them at Tenjin-minami and Hashimoto stations on the Fukuoka City Subway Nanakuma Line in February.

Tenjin-minami Station has 15 lockers. On the first day of the service, an employee of a bakery in the Tenjin underground shopping mall placed a few items in each locker.

The type of items sold varies depending on the day’s stock, such as white bread and croissants. The items in each locker cost from ¥600 to ¥800, and only cashless payments are accepted.

The food can be discounted after a certain amount of time and will stop being available after a pre-set period is reached. The city expects that by using the lockers, about 3.9 tons of food waste will be reduced annually.

“We hope this will encourage people to think about the issue of food waste,” a city official said.