A Guide to Where to Take Used Clothing and Textiles

Clothing and used textiles

Where can you take used clothing and textiles?

Before you put clothes you can no longer wear, or used textiles such as towels, out as burnable waste, it is worth considering the collection schemes that can channel them into reuse or recycling. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of intake points: (1) the drop-off collection points provided by the municipality where you live, and (2) the in-store collection services run by apparel brands. The items accepted and the rules for putting things out differ between them, so it helps to start with the overall picture.

Using your municipality's drop-off collection points

Many municipalities offer, in addition to "group resource collection" ("shigen shūdan kaishū") — in which neighborhood associations and residents' associations contract with a collection operator — dedicated drop-off collection points for used clothing and textiles at resource collection boxes and recycling centers (as in the case of Yokohama City).

The basics of putting items out are often the same across municipalities: wash them, let them dry, and put them out in a semi-transparent bag. Items that are wet, or that carry stains that will not come out such as oil-based paint, are generally not accepted (as in the case of Kanazawa City).

That said, the items accepted, the collection frequency, and the rules for putting things out differ from one municipality to another. Some municipalities exclude carpets, mattresses, and futons, while others accept blankets and curtains under a separate category. Please always check the waste and recyclables sorting rules of the municipality where you live on its official website.

Using in-store collection services

Collection boxes installed in the stores of clothing manufacturers and retailers are another option.

• UNIQLO and GU "RE.UNIQLO": Clothing from participating brands such as UNIQLO, GU, Theory, and PLST is accepted in in-store collection boxes. The clothing collected is sorted for donation to refugees and internally displaced people, for redistribution as secondhand clothing, or for recycling (into automotive soundproofing material, wiping cloths, solid fuel, and the like). The company has announced that it collected approximately 9.5 million items in the fiscal year ended August 2025, of which 4.74 million items were donated.
• MUJI "ReMUJI": Bring eligible products to a store and you receive MUJI points (you need a MUJI app, MUJI Card, or LINE membership card, and points are awarded at most once per day). Clothing accessories such as underwear, socks, shoes, bags, and hats are not eligible.
• H&M "Garment Collecting": You can bring unwanted clothing and textile products of any brand to an in-store collection box. The items collected are sorted for reuse (sold as secondhand clothing), recycling (into new textile materials or automotive insulation), or energy recovery.

For all of these services, the items accepted and the participating stores may change or the service may end. Please check each company's official website for the latest information before you use them.

What is the difference between reuse and recycling?

The Basic Act on Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society (循環型社会形成推進基本法) sets out a priority order for the treatment of waste and similar materials: waste prevention, then reuse, then recycling, then heat recovery, then appropriate disposal. Applied to used clothing, this means that items still in wearable condition are given priority for "reuse," being passed on to the next person as garments, while items too damaged to wear go to "recycling," where the fibers are broken down and remade into raw material for other products such as industrial wiping cloths and recovered fiber material ("hanmō"). Niigata City's guidance likewise explains that the used clothing it collects is reused both in Japan and overseas, and that items such as blankets and curtains may be put to use as recovered fiber material or industrial wiping cloths.

Understanding that the same "used clothing and textiles" may end up in reuse or in recycling depending on how soiled or damaged they are makes it easier to know how to put them out.

This is separate from the items covered by the Home Appliance Recycling Act

Although the Japanese word for "clothes dryer" contains the word "clothes," a clothes dryer is one of the four item categories covered by the Home Appliance Recycling Act (air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators and freezers, and washing machines and clothes dryers), and it goes through a different scheme from the used clothing and textile collection described in this article. Sutedoko does not cover the items subject to the Home Appliance Recycling Act. For how to dispose of them, please check the guidance from the store where you purchased them or from your municipality.

Summary

Used clothing and textiles may be accepted either at your municipality's drop-off collection points or through in-store collection services. Because the system is set up so that clothes still fit to wear go to reuse and textiles too damaged to wear go to recycling, taking the extra step of washing and drying items before you put them out is the key to not wasting resources. The items accepted and the way to put them out differ by municipality and by store, so please always check the official information before you put anything out.