Japan to Draw Up Action Plan to Reduce Clothing Waste

Tokyo, Jan. 4 (Jiji Press)---Japan's Environment Ministry plans to compile by March an action plan aimed at reducing large amounts of clothing waste from households.

The action plan is expected to include measures that should be taken by consumers, local governments and businesses at a time when large parts of used clothes from households are disposed of as waste.

The ministry hopes to promote effective use of secondhand clothing and encourage production and consumption of appropriate amounts of clothing in a shift from the current situation in which large volumes of clothing are produced and consumed.

According to the ministry's estimate based on data for 2024, households in Japan bought a total of 770,000 tons of clothes in the year while 480,000 tons were disposed of as waste. Including part of recovered clothing, about 510,000 tons were incinerated or used for landfill.

In contrast, reuse of secondhand clothes and recycling of fibers from discarded clothing have been slow, because the reuse market has not developed and recycling is difficult as many kinds of fibers are used as materials of clothing.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]