From Japan’s circular fashion targets to South Korea’s push for producer responsibility, governments and cities are rethinking how textile waste is managed and who bears the cost.
Textile waste is no longer an abstract supply-chain issue. It is showing up in places most consumers recognize: donation bins, resale racks, municipal incinerators, and international shipping routes. As governments are responding with new policy frameworks, researchers are questioning whether some of the most familiar solutions — like donating clothes — are actually working as intended.
The scale of the textile waste problem is no longer in dispute. The U.N. Development Program estimates that the fashion sector generates 92 million tons of textile waste globally each year and contributes roughly ten percent of global carbon emissions. Some of that waste is being better managed, but most of it is not, with the burden shifting from one country or system to another. Consumption still outpaces infrastructure, and the systems designed to absorb excess clothing were never meant to operate at this volume, are stumbling.
Japan’s push toward circular fashion
Japan is attempting to intervene before textile waste becomes unmanageable. The government has announced a target to reduce clothing waste by 25 percent by fiscal 2030 compared with levels from a decade earlier, according to reporting based on Environment Ministry data. A new national action plan, expected by March, will focus on expanding reuse, improving collection systems, and extending product lifespans through coordinated efforts between households, municipalities, and companies.
An estimated 820,000 tons of new clothing were supplied to Japan in 2024 — most of it imported. The environmental footprint behind those garments is substantial: government estimates attribute approximately 8.38 billion cubic meters of water consumption annually to dyeing and transportation processes, which are tied to clothing supplied to Japan, along with about 95 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite Japan’s strong reputation for sorting and recycling household waste, clothing remains an exception. Roughly 560,000 tons of apparel were incinerated or sent to landfills in 2024, and about 90 percent came directly from households. Secondhand resale and textile-to-textile recycling remain limited.
The government’s upcoming plan frames “circular fashion” as a shared responsibility. Municipalities are expected to raise collection rates and improve access to secondhand clothing for people in need. Apparel companies are being asked to design garments that are easier to repair and reuse. Households are encouraged to recycle clothing and choose environmentally conscious products. The approach reflects a growing recognition that consumer behavior alone cannot solve the problem without structural support.
South Korea and the case for producer responsibility
South Korea is confronting the issue from a different angle: regulation. According to an October report from the National Assembly Research Service, the textile industry accounts for ten percent of greenhouse gas emissions across Korea’s industrial sector. Combined household and industrial textile waste totals about 400,000 tons annually, yet less than 20 percent is recycled. The remainder is incinerated, landfilled, or exported.
Lawmakers and researchers argue that the fast fashion business model has outpaced Korea’s waste infrastructure. Brands produce roughly 900,000 tons of clothing each year, much of it worn briefly before disposal. Downcycling is common, but high-value recycling remains rare.
The most pressing proposal is extended producer responsibility, or EPR, which would require manufacturers to take responsibility for the waste generated by their products. Rep. Kim So-hee of the People Power Party has been working with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the National Assembly Research Service to push the issue forward.
“The introduction of EPR will first have to be agreed upon by textile producers here. Then, the regulation will have to be tested for about two years before enforcing it,” Kim Kyung-min, a legislative research officer at the National Assembly Research Service who authored the October report, said in a statement.
Kim argues that global pressure may accelerate acceptance of new rules. “We can push EPR outside the country’s legal boundary as well,” she said. “European countries have also propagated special textile strategies within their domestic economies. Reining in textile waste is a global movement now. At the climate ministry, either the first vice minister who oversees waste issues or the second vice minister who oversees the circular economy will have to spearhead the textile waste issue.”
Without reform, Korean textile firms could face trade barriers as the European Union moves forward with mandatory separate textile waste collection. The concern is not theoretical. Similar policies are already reshaping markets in France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
When donations become displacement
While governments debate policy, consumers often default to donation as a moral release valve. Recent research published in the journal Nature Cities complicates that assumption. The study tracked clothing donations in nine affluent cities, including Austin, Toronto, Melbourne, and Oslo, and found that charities receive far more clothing than they can realistically sell. Earth.com summarized the findings, noting that unsold garments are frequently discarded or shipped overseas, where they contribute to global textile waste.
The research highlights how local waste statistics can be misleading. Clothing may leave a city or country, but its environmental impact does not disappear. Charities, the study argues, were never designed to function as large-scale waste management systems.
“We’re used to charities doing the heavy lifting, but they’ve been unable to fully handle the volume of donated clothes for a long time now,” said Dr. Yassie Samie of RMIT University in Melbourne. “Charities are driven by social welfare values and need to raise funds for their programs. However, their operations are ill-equipped to deal with the volume of used textiles that need to be reused and recycled.”
The problem is not resale itself but oversupply. Cheap, low-quality clothing often cannot survive multiple owners or recycling processes. In some cities, the flood of donations has even undermined small resale businesses, forcing thrift stores to import higher-quality secondhand clothing to stay viable.
Researchers recommend shifting away from volume-based solutions toward “sufficiency,” encouraging consumers to buy fewer garments and keep them longer. Cities are urged to manage textile waste locally by investing in sorting, repair, and reuse systems rather than exporting the problem elsewhere.
“Sustainable fashion initiatives, like second-hand retailers, struggle to compete with fashion brands’ big marketing budgets and convenient locations,” Dr. Samie noted. “Fast fashion alternatives exist, but they are under-promoted, despite their potential to significantly reduce cities’ textile waste.”
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