Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd.-owned 7-Eleven Japan will offer about 5% discount on food close to expiry in a bid to reduce food waste and cut garbage costs, the Nikkei Asian Review reported May 17.

The offer, set to launch this fall, will be applicable to hundreds of food items, including lunchboxes, rice balls and noodles.

The move will help the company reduce its food waste and slash costs for discarding old food as individual stores have to pay 85% of the disposal costs.

Japanese convenience store chain Lawson Inc. also is planning to launch a similar discount program on a trial basis in Ehime and Okinawa, the report added.

Japan's annual food waste amounts to about 6.4 million tons.