JOYCLE Successfully Demonstrates Food Waste Resource Recovery in Ishikari City, Proving Stable Operation of "JOYCLE BOX" in Extreme Cold Environments
JOYCLE, a company building resource circulation infrastructure, successfully conducted a demonstration experiment of its autonomous decentralized infrastructure "JOYCLE BOX" in Ishikari City. The experiment, targeting food waste and general waste from the Ishikari City School Lunch Center, proved stable operation even under severe cold conditions, marking a significant step towards the social implementation of on-site resource circulation models in snowy and cold regions.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 9, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 9, 2026 at 10:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 20, 2026 at 10:18 (263h 47m after Collected)
JOYCLE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Yutaro Koyanagi; hereinafter "JOYCLE"), which builds resource circulation infrastructure, conducted a demonstration experiment of its autonomous decentralized infrastructure "JOYCLE BOX" targeting "food waste" and "general waste" generated at the Ishikari City School Lunch Center, as part of the FY2025 Regional Innovation Collaboration Ishikari Model Project.
In this demonstration, we succeeded in resource recovery and significant volume reduction of waste, including high-moisture food waste, under severe cold conditions where the outside temperature was near freezing. This marks a significant step towards the social implementation of on-site resource circulation models in snowy and cold regions.
## ■ Background and Purpose: Solving Increased Logistics Costs and Food Waste Treatment Issues in Cold Regions
In cold regions of Hokkaido, including Ishikari City, common challenges include the high hurdles of traffic disruptions due to winter snowfall and low temperatures, problems with logistics costs and driver shortages due to many areas being far from incinerators, and the maintenance and management of aging waste treatment facilities. In particular, a large amount of food waste discharged from food factories and other processing facilities has a high moisture content, which can lead to a decrease in incineration efficiency. To address these issues, JOYCLE conducted this demonstration with the cooperation of Ishikari City to verify the effectiveness of "JOYCLE BOX," which can process and recover resources right at the source of emission (on-site).
## ■ Overview and Results of the Demonstration Experiment
From January 19 to 23, 2026, a total of 122.49 kg of waste discharged from the Ishikari City School Lunch Center was fed into the system at Hayakita Kogyo Co., Ltd.'s Sapporo Factory (Ishikari City), and three processing demonstrations were conducted.
1. **Proof of Stable Operation in Cold Regions**
During the demonstration period, the minimum temperature recorded was near freezing, but the pyrolysis process inside the device was stably maintained due to indoor installation. It was confirmed that the system could operate without failure or stoppage even in extreme cold environments.
2. **Significant Reduction of Food Waste and Acquisition of Processing Data**
Even in the case where approximately 40 kg of high-moisture food waste was fed (3rd demonstration), the final residue weight was significantly reduced. Precise data on temperature transitions and power consumption (average power 3.53kW to 6.32kW) according to the input amount was acquired, establishing the basis for economic simulations.
3. **Accumulation of Knowledge for Efficient Operation**
It was quantitatively confirmed that the order of food waste input (general waste at the bottom layer, food waste at the top layer) and subdivision affect processing efficiency. This led to the formulation of specific operation manuals tailored to actual on-site operations.
## ■ Comment from Representative Director and CEO Yutaro Koyanagi
"This demonstration in Ishikari City has become an important milestone, proving that JOYCLE BOX functions sufficiently even in cold weather. The ability to recover resources from a consistent daily volume of high-moisture food waste, such as that from school lunches, on-site, shows great potential to significantly contribute to reducing waste treatment costs and environmental impact for local governments. I believe that the value of decentralized infrastructure that does not transport, does not incinerate, and recovers resources is maximized precisely in regions like my hometown Hokkaido, which is vast but faces serious driver shortages. JOYCLE will continue to strive with all its might to disseminate the society where resources and joy circulate, which JOYCLE aims for, from Hokkaido to the world."
Keywords: JOYCLE BOX, IoT infrastructure, waste treatment issues, on-site processing, Ishikari City, cold regions, waste transportation costs, Hayakita Kogyo
In this demonstration, we succeeded in resource recovery and significant volume reduction of waste, including high-moisture food waste, under severe cold conditions where the outside temperature was near freezing. This marks a significant step towards the social implementation of on-site resource circulation models in snowy and cold regions.
## ■ Background and Purpose: Solving Increased Logistics Costs and Food Waste Treatment Issues in Cold Regions
In cold regions of Hokkaido, including Ishikari City, common challenges include the high hurdles of traffic disruptions due to winter snowfall and low temperatures, problems with logistics costs and driver shortages due to many areas being far from incinerators, and the maintenance and management of aging waste treatment facilities. In particular, a large amount of food waste discharged from food factories and other processing facilities has a high moisture content, which can lead to a decrease in incineration efficiency. To address these issues, JOYCLE conducted this demonstration with the cooperation of Ishikari City to verify the effectiveness of "JOYCLE BOX," which can process and recover resources right at the source of emission (on-site).
## ■ Overview and Results of the Demonstration Experiment
From January 19 to 23, 2026, a total of 122.49 kg of waste discharged from the Ishikari City School Lunch Center was fed into the system at Hayakita Kogyo Co., Ltd.'s Sapporo Factory (Ishikari City), and three processing demonstrations were conducted.
1. **Proof of Stable Operation in Cold Regions**
During the demonstration period, the minimum temperature recorded was near freezing, but the pyrolysis process inside the device was stably maintained due to indoor installation. It was confirmed that the system could operate without failure or stoppage even in extreme cold environments.
2. **Significant Reduction of Food Waste and Acquisition of Processing Data**
Even in the case where approximately 40 kg of high-moisture food waste was fed (3rd demonstration), the final residue weight was significantly reduced. Precise data on temperature transitions and power consumption (average power 3.53kW to 6.32kW) according to the input amount was acquired, establishing the basis for economic simulations.
3. **Accumulation of Knowledge for Efficient Operation**
It was quantitatively confirmed that the order of food waste input (general waste at the bottom layer, food waste at the top layer) and subdivision affect processing efficiency. This led to the formulation of specific operation manuals tailored to actual on-site operations.
## ■ Comment from Representative Director and CEO Yutaro Koyanagi
"This demonstration in Ishikari City has become an important milestone, proving that JOYCLE BOX functions sufficiently even in cold weather. The ability to recover resources from a consistent daily volume of high-moisture food waste, such as that from school lunches, on-site, shows great potential to significantly contribute to reducing waste treatment costs and environmental impact for local governments. I believe that the value of decentralized infrastructure that does not transport, does not incinerate, and recovers resources is maximized precisely in regions like my hometown Hokkaido, which is vast but faces serious driver shortages. JOYCLE will continue to strive with all its might to disseminate the society where resources and joy circulate, which JOYCLE aims for, from Hokkaido to the world."
Keywords: JOYCLE BOX, IoT infrastructure, waste treatment issues, on-site processing, Ishikari City, cold regions, waste transportation costs, Hayakita Kogyo