The restaurant, Anhui Liaoli (Photo/Hangzhou Daily)

A single carton for a bowl of porridge, two for a bowl of wontons, or five for a portion of rice or noodles, no matter what your size of carton, you can trade it for a meal in a small restaurant located on Wenyixi Road in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, thepaper.cn reported on Nov. 14.

The restaurant, Anhui Liaoli, which literally translates to “Anhui food,” is a small restaurant that sells a range of dishes famous in east China’s Anhui province. It has drawn attention as, during the day, it's a regular diner, but between midnight and 5 o’clock every morning, it allows people to exchange cardboard boxes for food.

With a menu created by owner Sun Changjin, people can trade boxes of any size for dishes. The unique business started on Nov. 5 and will continue until the end of this month.

 (Photo/Hangzhou Daily)

According to Sun, he receives dozens of cartons every night, and that number is growing as word continues to spread. Sun doesn’t set a limit on how many people can take advantage of the offer, as long as people come to trade cartons for food, he will offer them set meals according to the menu.

“I select some of the boxes to reuse, and recycle the rest,” said Sun, adding that he is not doing this for money, but to promote environmental protection.