What do people get wrong about clothing collection and recycling in Japan?
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Japanese households throw away around 480,000 tonnes of clothing a year, and most of it is incinerated. This article looks at the gap between "old clothes get recycled" and what actually happens, and at how to dispose of clothes from home, using figures from the Ministry of the Environment.
The numbers (Ministry of the Environment, "Sustainable Fashion")
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Clothing supplied in Japan | About 800,000 tonnes a year |
| Clothing households part with | About 750,000 tonnes a year |
| Of which thrown away as burnable or non-burnable waste | About 480,000 tonnes (about 64%) |
| Of which reused (worn again as second-hand) | About 200,000 tonnes (about 27%) |
| Of which recycled (wiping rags, reclaimed fibre, etc.) | About 70,000 tonnes (about 9%) |
| Fibre-to-fibre recycling | Under 1% |
| Per person per year | About 18 items bought, about 15 parted with, about 35 items owned but not worn (averages) |
| Average years an item is worn | About 3 years |
How to dispose of clothes
| Method | Detail | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Council textile collection (古布, kofu — "old cloth") | Many local councils collect "old cloth and old clothes" as a recyclable. Wash and dry them, put them in a clear bag. Do not put them out on a rainy day | Many councils exclude stained, torn or wet items, underwear and socks |
| In-store collection | Collection boxes run by clothing brands and shopping centres | Sometimes limited to the shop's own brand |
| Reuse (second-hand shops, flea-market apps) | Items in good condition | — |
| Wiping rags and reclaimed fibre | Items from council collections that cannot be reused become industrial wiping rags (ウエス, uesu) or wadding | — |
[Verify] Check the latest figures against the Ministry of the Environment's "Sustainable Fashion" page (estimates based on surveys from 2020–2022). Check the sorting rules with your own local council.
Misunderstanding 1｜Put it in a collection and it gets recycled
About 60% is incinerated, and under 1% is recycled fibre-to-fibre. Reuse (someone else wears it) is the most valuable way to part with clothing.
Misunderstanding 2｜Anything can go in the textile collection
Stained, torn or wet items, underwear and socks are excluded by many councils (they are rubbish). Washed and dried is the basic condition. Put it out on a rainy day and the whole bag becomes rubbish.
Misunderstanding 3｜Donating is always better than throwing away
Exporting second-hand clothing overseas has been linked to problems for local textile industries and with waste in the receiving countries. Give priority to reuse and collection points inside Japan.
Misunderstanding 4｜Fast fashion is the only problem
Buying 18 items a year and leaving 35 unworn is the average, and points to how we buy and how long we wear. "Wear one item for longer" is the Ministry of the Environment's first message.
Misunderstanding 5｜What one person can do is small
Wear things longer (care and repair), pass them on for reuse, do not buy what you will not wear — the Ministry of the Environment estimates that wearing clothes for just one more year cuts waste by tens of thousands of tonnes. The care tips in this series of articles exist for exactly that reason.
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Sources
- Ministry of the Environment, "Sustainable Fashion" (estimates of clothing supply, disposal, reuse and recycling) [環境省「サステナブルファッション」]
https://www.env.go.jp/policy/sustainable_fashion/
- Ministry of the Environment, "Collection and recycling of used clothing" [環境省「使用済み衣類の回収・リサイクル」]
https://www.env.go.jp/recycle/
- Consumer Affairs Agency, "Ethical consumption" [消費者庁「エシカル消費」]
https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/consumer_education/public_awareness/ethical/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
About this article
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
Follow the care label and the maker's instructions for any garment, shoe or bag. For expensive or sentimental items, ask a specialist cleaner or repairer.
Sources
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