TOKYO -- Slammed by the pandemic, one Japanese brewery decided to get into the bluejeans business.

It turns out that Sapporo Breweries, based in Hokkaido, had tailor-made raw materials capable of producing denim -- malt lees, hop stems and hop leaves, in other words, waste from the brewing process.

The brewery's only problem was that it needed more trash to turn into what its customers are now treasuring.

"We didn't imagine so many people would apply," Sapporo Breweries' assistant manager Shinnosuke Araki said. "The reaction was far larger than expected."

Sapporo in April added 30 pairs of the pants to its online store. Price: 41,800 yen ($310). The brewer received about 1,600 purchase applications.

Why so much demand for a pair of jeans made of stuff that is oftentimes fed to cattle? One answer is upcycling, a way to turn waste into value-added products.

Other Japanese breweries, farmers and specialty food makers that turned to upcycling after being slammed by the pandemic are learning that efficiency is not the only benefit, that upcycling can also excite customers and strengthen brands.

Black Label Malt & Hops JEANS (Handmade) are produced with the malt lees from Sapporo's Black Label beer. Sapporo teamed up with Shima Denim Works, a company based in Urazoe, Okinawa Prefecture, that makes clothes using bagasse, the remains of sugar cane after the juice has been extracted from it.

The lees, hop stems and hop leaves are first made into washi Japanese-style paper, from which yarn is spun and woven into denim. Malt lees have been used for livestock feed, but Sapporo says this is the first time the byproduct has been given a second life as pants.

The upcycled denim is light and breathable. Sapporo uses ingredients from its dark beer in an effort to attract them to the Black Label brand. "When customers experience one of our brands through an upcycled product, that brand becomes part of their everyday lives," explained Aiko Saito, a Black Label marketing representative. As a result, "they will become even more fervent fans of the brand."

Another brewer, meanwhile, is upcycling food waste into new beers.

Asahi Group Holdings' new sustainability-focused unit Asahi You.Us released Sayama Green, a beer made with kebacha tea stem peel from the famous tea-growing region of Sayama, Saitama Prefecture. The kebacha peel is steeped in cold water, which goes on to make up 30% of the beer, giving the concoction a subtle tea aroma.

Kebacha stem peel gives Sayama Green beer a subtle tea aroma. (Photo courtesy of Asahi You.Us)

Asahi You.Us has partnerships with tea farmers in the region to upcycle stem peel that is removed during the tea-making process and mostly discarded or used as fertilizer. Nearly 1,000 tea farmers and dealers used to ply their trade in Sayama, but there are only around 200 now, according to the company. Asahi said that making use of stem peel can help reduce food waste and reinvigorate the local industry.

Upcycled beer products that focus on ties with a particular region or community help breweries attract new fans. "We are getting inquiries and proposals for new upcycling projects from all over Japan," Asahi You.Us President Shifumi Takamori said.

A fiscal 2017 tax system reform allows breweries to use fruit, spice, coffee, miso and other ingredients as auxiliary additives. Products made with items that are not stipulated in the Liquor Tax Act can be sold as low-malt beer as long as they do not exceed certain limits. That's why small breweries in the countryside are upcycling.

The trend has caught on with food companies as well.

Sakaeya Seipan, a bakery in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, that will mark its centenary in 2023, has major department stores and local schools as customers. It makes a lot of sandwiches -- and cuts off 400 kg worth of crust from those sandwiches every day. These leftovers usually become livestock feed but are now being upcycled into a new beer, one named upcycle.

Number Nine Brewery in Yokohama, Jokun Brewing Lab in Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, and Oriental Brewing in Kanazawa all use the bakery's discarded crusts to produce beer or low-malt beer. "Consumers want food products that have stories," said Kenichi Yoshioka, the Sakaeya Seipan executive who hatched the upcycling project. "We thought we needed to make something that is not merely tasty or appealing to the eye."

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to the bakery industry. School lunch demand dropped, and department store purchases briefly stopped. Sakaeya Seipan used to deliver five truckloads of bread to the Greater Tokyo area every day, then suddenly it was one truckload. If the situation continued for another six months, Yoshioka said, the company would have had to contemplate going out of business. As Yoshioka instead began considering business diversification options, toast ale, a type of British beer made with bread, came to mind.

The new beer upcycle was inspired by British-style Toast Ale and a dash of desperation. (Photo courtesy of Sakaeya Seipan)

He approached breweries across Japan, three of which liked the idea. But Sakaeya Seipan's beer customers are only using 10% of the amount of crust that the bakery is used to selling to livestock feed producers. As a result, Yoshioka is on the lookout for additional beer partners.

The volume of food Japan throws away has been falling. The Consumer Affairs Agency says Japanese households and businesses wasted 5.22 million tons of food in fiscal 2020, down 8% from fiscal 2019 and the fifth straight year of decline. Japan in fiscal 2015 wasted a record 64.6 million tons of food, about 132 grams per person per day.

Food waste from retailers and restaurants amounted to 2.75 million tons in fiscal 2020, an 11% drop from the previous year. This was largely due to pandemic-related restrictions, with the restaurant industry accounting for two-thirds of the decline. Still, 53% of the food waste was created by the business sector.

As companies strive further to reduce food waste, upcycling can help. In the town of Tachiarai, Fukuoka Prefecture, strawberry picking used to be a major tourist attraction -- until the pandemic.

Eventually, town authorities joined hands with craft beer maker Jouzo Beer Base in Ana, Tokushima Prefecture, and other parties in an effort to lure back tourists. A Kirin Breweries factory in Fukuoka provides malt from locally grown barley. They've developed Tachiarai Ale made with strawberries and nonstandard corn. The beer is sold at local liquor stores.

Japan's more than 5 million tons of food waste represent a treasure trove, one that promises a wealth of new fans and strengthened brand power -- if companies can come up with an upcycling concept that resonates with the public.