Eco-conscious Tokyoites can now recycle their used and unwanted clothes at five train stations along the JR Chuo and Nambu lines. Called Mawasu Station – ‘Circulation Station’ in English – the project has started its collection drive at JR Chuo line’s Musashi-Sakai, Higashi-Koganei and Nishi-Kokubunji stations as well as JR Nambu line’s Inagi-Naganuma Station and Celeo Kokubunji (the mall connected to Kokubunji Station).
The donated clothes will be professionally cleaned and repurposed as uniform for employees of the popular ramen chain Ippudo. These staff members are not the ones working at the restaurants, but for the company’s social welfare programme Ippudo Global Club as well as for the social initiative Kodomo Shokudo, where children can learn about food and nutrition. Clothes that are difficult to reuse are recycled into raw materials and turned into new products.
You can donate up to five pieces of clothing per day, but make sure they’re properly washed and dry. However, you can’t drop off school and sport uniforms, underwear, swimwear, socks and tights, and basically anything else that’s made from fabric but is not a garment.
The clothes will be collected at the manned ticket gates at the aforementioned stations. The campaign runs daily from 10am to 4pm until September 30.
For more information, see Mawasu Station’s website (in Japanese only).
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