Expansion Issues in the Textile Recycling Market - October 2001

Expansion Issues in the Textile Recycling Market - October 2001

Around 2001, Japan's Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-Oriented Society came into effect, and the promotion of waste reduction and resource recycling became a national policy. However, the textile industry has been slow to make progress in recycling due to its diverse and complex structure. Clothing and textile products were blended from a variety of materials such as cotton, wool, and polyester, and product designs were complex, making many of them unsuitable for recycling. Furthermore, distribution patterns ranged from fast fashion to luxury brands, and collection routes and reuse mechanisms after disposal were dispersed, making it difficult to establish an efficient recycling system. As a result, while more than 1.71 million tons of textile waste was generated annually in Japan, the recycling rate was only 9.5%.

In Germany, by contrast, a high recycling rate of 62.8% had been achieved, with NPOs and church groups taking the lead in developing street collections and voluntary systems. In Europe, the reuse and export of used clothing had taken root as part of the culture, and the foundations for textile recycling had been established socially. In Japan, however, the number of recycling stores and flea markets had only just begun to increase, and consumer awareness and institutional development were noticeably lagging. In the background, there was a disposable culture due to the low price of clothing, resistance to the sanitary aspects of used clothing, and institutional inadequacies in the government.

The biggest challenge in Japan at the time was to create a stable collection route and market infrastructure while raising consumer awareness of participation. Textile manufacturers and distributors began to search for single-material products and recycling designs that were easy to recycle, and they worked with local governments and NPOs to create a system. These efforts later laid the groundwork for such trends as sustainable fashion and criticism of fast fashion.