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Cambodia.
A major hub of global apparel production, where massive volumes of garments are sewn every day. But behind this thriving industry lies a lesser-known reality: vast amounts of textile waste—known as offcuts—are generated in the production process. Though the material is brand new and unused, it has traditionally been incinerated or sent to landfills.
Now, a quiet shift is underway—one that transforms these textile offcuts into something of value.
A new project is collecting offcuts from garment factories in Cambodia and transporting them to Japan. There, the material is sorted, pulverized, and molded into recycled composite boards. These boards are not only durable and aesthetically refined, but also adaptable for use in furniture, various lifestyle products, and even space design applications.
But this initiative is more than just a recycling effort.
The long-term vision is to establish Japan as a central hub for textile resource circulation in Asia—a place where discarded textiles from across the region can be processed into high-value materials using Japan’s advanced technology, quality control, and design capabilities.
While many circular economy models focus on local production and consumption, this project proposes a regional circulation model. By leveraging Japan’s strengths, the idea is to process and upcycle textile waste locally and then return the material to both domestic and global markets—not merely transporting waste, but completing the cycle by reintroducing it as valuable products.
Though currently in its pilot phase, the initiative is already collaborating with Cambodian manufacturers, with plans to expand partnerships to Vietnam, Indonesia, South Korea, and other parts of Asia.
Offcuts once deemed worthless are now at the center of a new kind of resource cycle.
And Japan is where this cycle has quietly, but decisively, begun.
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Resource-Circulating Textile Recycling PANECO®
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