FamilyMart and Book Off launch clothing collection pilot in Tokyo

FamilyMart and Book-Off began a pilot project last week to install R-LOOP collection boxes for clothing and sundries in convenience stores. The trial takes place at approximately 30 stores in the Setagaya and Suginami wards of Tokyo, focusing on residential areas to test consumer needs and convenience.

According to a 2025 report by the Ministry of the Environment, about 560,000 tonnes of clothing are disposed of through incineration or landfill each year. While many consumers feel it is wasteful to throw away usable items, the time and effort required for traditional reuse services often act as a deterrent. This project intends to address that barrier by using FamilyMart’s network of over 16,400 stores, make resource circulation a part of daily life and reduce the environmental burden in Japan.

The R-LOOP system simplifies the reuse process into a ten-second task. Customers place their unwanted items directly into the dedicated in-store boxes without the need for packaging, shipping, or waiting for a formal appraisal. To ensure transparency, every collection bag is marked with an identification sticker. This allows the companies to track the volume of items and manage reuse and recycling data through a centralised database.

Items collected through the boxes follow two distinct paths. Usable clothing and goods are sent to “Jalan Jalan Japan,” a chain of overseas reuse shops operated by the Book-Off Group in countries such as Malaysia and Kazakhstan. Items that do not meet reuse standards are processed by partner companies into industrial wiping cloths or felt. The project also includes a donation element, where one yen is donated to environmental and social NPOs for every kilogram of items successfully diverted for reuse.

FamilyMart and Book-Off aim to reduce clothing waste by 4,000 tonnes annually if the programme expands nationwide. The pilot will evaluate collection volumes across different locations, the impact on store staff workloads, and the efficiency of the logistics chain.