Unwanted and fast-growing bamboo often causes problems for property owners.

And the large amounts of lint produced at towel factories can cause catastrophic fires.

Today's On-Site Report shows how creative business models are now turning these nuisances, into useful new products.

The city of Miyako-no-jou is located near the southern end of the island of Kyushu.

The surrounding area is home to approximately 5 square kilometers of bamboo -

much of which has grown unmanaged for many years.

Nearby, a farm that raises one of the city's most famous livestock -

Miyakonojou pigs, is fattening them up with feed containing locally harvested bamboo.

Wood processing business owner Tanaka Koichiro was the first to release a bamboo-based feed product in Japan.

He took over a project that was being conducted by the Miyazaki Livestock Research Center and commercialized it.

There have been a number of projects throughout Japan that tried to use bamboo to make agricultural products,

but failed because of its extremely hard fibers.

Knowing how tough it is, Tanaka invested in a bamboo cutter.

Since most of the bamboo in the area is on privately owned land,

many landowners can't afford to keep the rugged and fast growing plants in check.

Fortunately for them, Tanaka is willing to provide the service free of charge.

About two years ago, one property owner asked him to remove a bamboo from a 2000 square meter area of land.

The last time he had the same parcel of land cleared, it cost him over $10,000.

To put it bluntly, bamboo is a pain in the neck!

So, I'm really thankful to be able to get rid of it at no cost!

Tanaka then takes the plants he cuts down to his processing facility and runs them through a bamboo mill.

The hard and fibrous material is finely crushed and ground to ensure that it's easy for livestock to eat and digest.

He then adds a unique blend of lactic acid bacteria and molasses to the milled bamboo and mixes it thoroughly.

Next, the mixture is pressed into a cylindrical shape and tightly wrapped in plastic.

The final step - is to let each unit of feed sit for 40 days until the fermentation process is complete.

Tanaka then sells the bamboo to farmers as a supplement that is usually mixed with other types of livestock feed.

On average, he sells it for about 40% less than standard supplements that are made from rice-straw.

This pig farm is one of his clients.

By using the bamboo supplement rather than standard supplements,

the owners estimate that each pig eats 30kg less feed over a 6-month period.

The reason for such a difference?

Experts attribute it to the high fiber content of bamboo which improves intestinal health and increases nutrient absorption.

Using the bamboo feed probably saves us around $150 - 200,000 a year on feed costs.

Another bonus? The bamboo also makes pig manure less pungent -

creating a more pleasant working environment for the farmers.

Our product can also be used as a supplement in cow and chicken feed.

And with prices skyrocketing due to the war in Ukraine and other issues,

having a product made from locally sourced bamboo puts us in a great position for success.

To make a good campfire, you need decent tinder.

As you can see, this tinder ignites almost immediately.

It's made from cotton lint that is produced during the towel manufacturing process.

Located in Ehime prefecture, the city of Imabari is known for being the top towel producer in all of Japan.

After going through the dyeing process, the towels are then dried.

As you can imagine, thousands of towels going through industrial dryers produces quite a bit of lint.

While it may look harmless, this fluffy residue is actually quite dangerous,

as it is known for causing electrical shorts and even fires.

This factory dyes and dries nearly 3000 kilograms of towels per day.

So much lint is collected, employees must check and clean the dryer's filters 6-7 times every day.

This results in bag upon bag full of cotton lint.

The person who decided to try using the lint as tinder for starting fires?

Product Manager, Fukuoka Tomonari.

As an avid camper, he realized the flammable fluff had another potential use.

Using hemp chord for tinder has been popular for a long time,

so I thought our cotton lint might work just as well.

Testing found that a 10 gram wad of lint will burn continuously for 5 minutes

and unlike many standard products, doesn't produce ash or give off any unpleasant odors.

In addition to its performance, the company also wanted to feature its bright colors to really make it stand out.

The towels are kept separated during the drying process, so each machine collects a single color of lint -

allowing them to create interesting designs by combining different colored lint during the packaging process.

Available for sale since February of 2022, each package contains 5 tinder wads and sells for about $4.50.

Refills packaged in paper bags are also available for around $2.50.

In recent years, camping has seen a surge in popularity in Japan, so sales have been good for the towel lint tinder.

We've already sold over a hundred of them.

They look really nice, so we have a lot of female campers buying them.

- It's so cute.
- Yeah, it looks nice.

On your first try!

It was easy.

I was hoping that our lint-based tinder would "catch fire,"

but I didn't expect it to become this popular.

I hope consumers will recognize that selecting this type of product is a great way to reduce waste!