Japan’s technicolour convenience stores are always noted for the weird, wacky and wonderful, but there always appears to be one obvious staple – the KitKat.

Roughly four million of the chocolate bar’s highly-popular ‘mini’ versions, in exclusive flavours like matcha and wasabi, are sold across the country annually, leaving its manufacturer with a major dilemma.

How to combat the scourge of glossy plastic film they are encased in?

Nestlé’s Japanese confectionery arm has unwrapped a novel solution – and one that adheres to the chocolate’s ‘have a break’ motto in the same breath – by creating foldable paper packaging.

🍫Do you like to play with your food?

Japan is replacing plastic KitKat wrappers for recyclable origami paper pic.twitter.com/gM161yRT25

— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) September 9, 2019

But that’s not all. The company has also included instructions on how to turn the vibrantly coloured paper into the famed origami crane.

The initiative is part of Nestlé’s pledge to produce 100 per cent recyclable or reusable candy packaging by 2025, and the ‘mini’ example alone is expected to reduce its plastic production by around 380 tonnes.

This new packaging idea by KitKat in Japan is as adorable as it is intelligent! Nestlé is moving from plastic packaging to paper packaging in Japan. But, instead of simply changing the material, they have also added an extra bit of fun and engagement – the paper packaging 1/5

— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) September 10, 2019

The eco-friendly matte wrapping will eventually be rolled out to the remaining KitKat offerings – normal-sized and individual KitKats – by the year 2021.

So next time you’re in Japan and find yourself holding a KitKat, feel free to play with your food. It’ll do a world of good.