JR East and ECOMMIT launch resource circulation pilot at railway stations

JR East, ECOMMIT and Atre have commenced a joint pilot project to establish a resource circulation model centred on railway stations and station buildings. It involves  the PASSTO resource circulation service provided by ECOMMIT to collect and redistribute used clothing and household goods, thus integrating collection points and logistics into existing railway infrastructure.

Some barriers to circulating material in an economy include shortage of accessible collection points and high cost of logistics. Since stations and commercial facilities within the JR East Group are already well-established and highly frequented, they are ideal locations where residents can easily drop off unwanted items during their daily routines.

Resource collection will take place at Atre Matsudo, Atre Toride, and PLAYatre Tsuchiura. Specially designed PASSTO boxes are installed at these locations to allow customers to hand over items such as clothing, bags, and toys while shopping. A portion of the collected items will be sold at the PASSTO Market event scheduled at Atre Matsudo.

The project also leverages the logistics network of JR East Logistics to transport these items. Collected items are transported using the return trips of trucks that deliver goods to station buildings and shops. This is an efficient and environmentally friendly transport operation by using spare capacity in the current delivery network.

On 29 April, a large-scale collection event will be held at the JR Matsudo Station West Exit. This event accepts items that cannot be placed in standard PASSTO boxes, such as footwear and kitchenware. Items collected during the pilot are sorted by professional staff at ECOMMIT circular centres for reuse or recycling.

The partners intend to verify the hypothesis that small-scale circulation zones can function effectively within the geographic scope of a railway line. While the current pilot focuses on the Joban Line area, they are considering expanding the model to other railway lines in the future.