Upcycling and Recycling: Creating Wonderful Products from Waste

In Japan, interest in a sustainable society has drawn attention to initiatives that create new products from waste. Various types of waste are being transformed into products with beautiful designs that take advantage of their unique characteristics, and this approach has even been applied to popular anime character plastic model kits, creating a buzz.
In this article, we highlight Japanese products and initiatives that have created value from waste through sustainable perspectives and creative design.

About Upcycling and Recycling

In recent years, there has been growing attention in Japan to efforts that transform used and discarded items into higher-value products, thereby creating new functional value. Recycling, which turns waste back into resources or raw materials for reuse, and upcycling, which adds value to waste materials through design and other means, are practiced in different regions.

For example, there is a case of upcycling, where used sheets from hotels were collected to make shirts, taking advantage of the material's properties. The developer of this idea, who was 20 years old at the time, noticed the large amount of discarded linen while working part-time as a housekeeper at a resort hotel in Okinawa, and came up with the idea of making shirts from this waste linen to help solve both fashion and resource-related global social issues. This initiative received widespread support through crowdfunding in 2023, leading to the commercialization and release of the product later that year. As it was originally intended for contact with human skin, the linen from the sheets has a pleasant texture and excellent sweat absorbing properties, resulting in shirts that are comfortable to wear. The hemming at the edges of the sheets was even used as a design feature in the shirts. The developer states that because Okinawa has limited resources, they aim to transform Okinawa into a sustainable tourist destination where resources are circulated through upcycling.

Products with Beautiful Designs Created from Waste

In Japan, simple furniture made of cardboard is sometimes used in places such as evacuation shelters during natural disasters. This is because cardboard can be quickly assembled when needed, and is light yet strong, making it suitable for making temporary furniture. Recently, discarded cardboard has been used to make furniture that is more suitable for everyday use, both in terms of design and functionality. The developer is aiming to make cardboard furniture as common an interior choice as wood or metal furniture, creating items such as stools with a load capacity of around 1,000 kg, reinforced by a laminated structure, and cat benches that blend into the room. These items are not only durable, but also combine complex and beautiful design made possible by digital technology with the convenience of being easy to move around. The attractive products designed as interior decor take advantage of the material's properties and extend its life even in prolonged daily use, showcasing the possibilities for even more new creations. The developer expresses the desire to connect to sustainable production and consumption by creating high-value products from items that were previously limited in use or discarded.

While the development of motor vehicles has brought convenience to modern society, it has also led to an increase in the number of vehicles being scrapped. In Okinawa, companies that dismantle scrapped vehicles have faced the challenge of recycling the glass from car windows, which is difficult to recycle and has been sent to landfills outside the prefecture at great expense. They have been exploring new ways to utilize this waste. To address this challenge, they collaborated with Okinawa's largest glass workshop, known for producing Ryukyu glass from used bottles, to create several new glass products. Up until recently, glass from scrapped car windows has not been recycled due to impurities such as sand. However, a special collection device has been developed to remove these impurities. Not only that, but thanks to the high level of craftsmanship required to work with recycled glass, the glass from scrapped car windows has been successfully transformed into beautiful tableware. The glass is separated and collected by seat location, allowing the shades of color in the glass to be preserved in the products. The sale of these created vessels has attracted attention as a sustainable collaboration that reduces costs for both parties while also reusing resources.
Similar efforts are being actively pursued using parts other than glass as well, such as making bags from discarded car seat belts.

Japan's Popular Plastic Model Kits Transform with Eggshells!

Sustainable products have even made their way into Japanese anime plastic model kits, which have an enthusiastic following around the world. Amid concerns about the depletion of oil, the raw material used to make plastic model kits, this product successfully reduces oil use by blending eggshells discarded as industrial waste into oil-based resin. The company that developed it says that while it creates fun products, it wants to use resources carefully to achieve a sustainable society.

By using design and technology to transform waste into valuable products and find new applications for them, we are helping to expand sustainable resource cycles and promote the preservation of our planet's environment. We hope you will take a closer look at Japan's sustainable products in the future.