Clothing Waste Avoided Through Reuse on Mercari Is Equivalent to Approximately 7.7% of Japan’s Annual Clothing Waste (By Weight);
Approximately 690,000 Tons of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Avoided Annually
Mercari, Inc. (“Mercari”) has published its FY2025.6 Impact Report, a report consolidating information on the efforts Mercari made to create a circular economy in FY2025.6 and the results of those efforts.
https://pj.mercari.com/impact-report/FY2025_6_ImpactReport_EN.pdf
Mercari strives to be a planet-positive company that contributes to solving environmental and societal issues through its business activities, working to help realize a circular economy in which all forms of value—not just physical goods and money—circulate seamlessly. The company first published a report containing this information in 2020.
Highlights from the FY2025.6 Impact Report
Positive impact of Mercari’s business (contribution to avoided emissions)
The life cycle of a new product generates environmental burden in many steps, from gathering the raw materials to disposing of the product. At Mercari, we believe that utilizing secondhand items in place of new items reduces this environmental burden.
As such, we estimated the amount of purchases of new items that were avoided by transactions on Mercari and calculated roughly how much this contributed to reducing the environmental burden across society. We call this “avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”
In our calculations, we found that approximately 690,000 tons1,2 of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided annually through transactions in select categories on Mercari in Japan and the US.
By encouraging the concept of reuse through the growth of our business, Mercari strives to be a planet-positive company that contributes to the creation of a circular economy in which all forms of value circulate seamlessly.
1. Target categories: Clothing, Electronics, Media (Books, CDs, DVDs), Bags, Shoes (expanded from the Sneakers category included in the calculations last year), Washing Machines (added to the calculations this year)
2. Calculations based on items for which a transaction was completed in the target categories on the Mercari Japan and Mercari US services from April 2024 to March 2025
3. Volume of CO2 equivalent to one covered baseball stadium: Approx. 2,436 t-CO2 (Volume of Tokyo Dome: 1.24M m3 = 1.24M kL, 1 mol = 22.4 L = 44g-CO2, Source: Tokyo Dome)
4. From “How Much Carbon Dioxide Do Forests Absorb?” published on the website of the Forestry Agency (available only in Japanese)
5. From “Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Transport Sector” published on the Ministry of Labour, Infrastructure and Transport website (available only in Japanese)
Clothing waste avoided through reuse on Mercari is equivalent to approximately 7.7% of Japan’s annual clothing waste (by weight)
The weight of apparel waste avoided through listing items that are no longer needed on Mercari in Japan added up to approximately 43,000 tons. This is equivalent to approximately 7.7% of Japan’s annual clothing waste.
Furthermore, selling or buying one item of clothing on Mercari avoids an average of approximately 9.6 kg of greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to approximately 27 hours of household air conditioner usage, or manufacturing approximately 80 plastic bottles.
Selling or buying clothing on Mercari also extends the usage life of each item of clothing by 3.2 years compared to replacing them with new items of clothing.
These contributions toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions are the result of the actions of each individual Mercari user.
A survey conducted by Mercari in June 20256 investigated respondents’ behavior when they no longer need a fashion item that they own and can still be used. 49.4% of non-Mercari users responded that they throw the item away as trash. Meanwhile, only 34.0% of Mercari users responded with the same answer.
Furthermore, a comparison of the percentage of people who selected reuse behaviors such as “I sell the item,” “I give the item away,” and “I donate the item” showed that 66.0% of Mercari users choose to reuse items. This is 15.4 points higher than non-Mercari users, at 50.6%.
These results indicate that Mercari is not only reducing waste but encouraging the behavior of reuse.
Through transactions on Mercari, each of us can contribute to reducing waste and achieving a circular economy where the earth’s finite resources are treated with care.
6. Results of an online survey (survey target: 1,250 men and women aged 20–69 nationwide across Japan; survey period: June 27–28, 2025)
7. CO2 emissions from household air conditioner usage estimated at 0.36kg/h; from the Decokatsu Database published on the Ministry of the Environment’s website (https://ondankataisaku.env.go.jp/decokatsu/decokatsu_db/)
8. CO2 emissions involved in manufacturing and disposing of/recycling a 500ml plastic bottle estimated at 0.119kg/bottle; from page 17 of “Analysis of the Environmental Burden of Using Reusable Drinking Containers, Cups, and Bottles” published on the Ministry of the Environment’s website (https://www.env.go.jp/recycle/yoki/c_3_report/pdf/h23_lca_01.pdf)
Transforming into an AI-Native company
Mercari is transforming into an AI-Native company, which means we are implementing AI into all of our business processes, from product development to marketing and customer support. By doing so, we aim to dramatically enhance productivity and create a new, personalized buying experience tailored to each user.
Since the establishment of Mercari’s dedicated AI team in 2017, we have been proactively incorporating AI technologies to improve our product and enhance our user experience.
We have also been actively recruiting AI engineers from Japan and overseas and have adopted AI technologies into our product in main areas such as the listing experience and anti-fraud measures.
In 2021, Mercari became the first in the fintech industry to release our own original AI credit system. Since then, we have continued to leverage AI/LLM technologies to improve our product, and AI has continued to contribute to the growth of our businesses.
In FY2025.6, we established an AI Task Force of approximately 100 people to significantly advance and drive the direction of our implementation of AI. In addition, through our redesign of the app’s home screen and introduction of new features that leverage AI, we aim to create a marketplace where anyone can easily discover items that can only be found on Mercari.
“Back to Startup” and “AI-Native”—The Next Chapter in Mercari’s Journey at 12 Years
https://careers.mercari.com/en/mercan/articles/53674/
Mercari’s Bold Move to Become AI-Native—The Story Behind Creating an AI Task Force of 100+ Members
https://careers.mercari.com/en/mercan/articles/53708/
Mercari Releases AI Listing Support, Making Listing Experience Even Easier
https://about.mercari.com/en/press/news/articles/20240910_aisupport/
Enhancing initiatives for safety and security
Anyone who uses our services the right way should be able to pursue their interests and dreams without having to worry about running into trouble.
We believe that creating such an environment is the foundation for achieving our mission.
Mercari’s Marketplace Principles, established through discussion with external experts, define that our marketplace should be safe, trustworthy, and humane.
With these values at the forefront, we work to create a diverse and free marketplace that everyone can comfortably participate in.
Our Marketplace Principles
https://about.mercari.com/en/principles/
However, that freedom can only exist upon a foundation of trust where all users feel comfortable using our marketplace.
We recognize that as cases of fraud are increasing and becoming more complex throughout society, our social responsibility increases too as a marketplace with 23 million users per month. We take this very seriously, and have resolved to continue investing in strengthening the anti-fraud measures we’ve taken so far in order to ensure that Mercari remains a trustworthy marketplace in which our users can safely enjoy exchanging value.
In order to maintain the trust that the Mercari marketplace is based on, which we recognize as our top priority, we make the following two promises to users.
- Thorough elimination of fraudulent users
We will strengthen our mechanisms to detect and eliminate fraud in real time, maintaining a safe marketplace. - Thorough aid for users
In the event that a user does suffer damage from fraud, we promise to take appropriate action and provide thorough support.
Mercari Newly Announces Two Promises and Three Initiatives to Strengthen Safety and Security
https://about.mercari.com/en/press/news/articles/20250521_anshinanzen/
Other initiatives
Empowerment of individuals with Mercari
Survey shows approximately 1 in 2 Mercari users took an interest in environmental issues through using Mercari
In a survey conducted by Mercari in June 20256, approximately 1 in 2 Mercari users (52.9%) responded that using Mercari led them to take an interest in environmental issues. This indicates that using Mercari is not simply an act of consumption but leads to higher environmental awareness in users.
Furthermore, approximately 1 in 4 Mercari users (22.1%) responded that through buying items secondhand, they now search for items that they want secondhand first, demonstrating the formulation of a new consumption behavior of buying things secondhand on Mercari as a default choice.
Unleashing the potential in diverse talent worldwide
We believe that diversity is a source of innovation and that inclusion & diversity is essential to achieving our mission.
In FY2025.6, we saw significant increases in the percentage of women in management positions, particularly women directors. In addition, through our regular monitoring and continued actions toward eliminating the unexplained gender pay gap, we have reduced the number to 1.4%.
Through our business and corporate activities, Mercari continues to contribute to realizing a society where all forms of value can be circulated and the potential of all people can be unleashed.
Mercari Group’s sustainability strategy
Mercari strives to be a planet-positive company that contributes to solving environmental and societal issues through its business activities in order to realize a circular economy in which all forms of value circulate seamlessly.
In 2025, a report calculating the positive impact of Mercari’s business on carbon emissions revealed that an annual total of 690,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided across Japan and the US through Mercari Group’s combined business activities in both countries. In Japan alone, users avoided approximately 43,000 tons of apparel waste (by weight) by listing items they no longer needed on Mercari. This is equivalent to approximately 7.7% of Japan’s annual clothing waste.
Going forward, Mercari will strive to do its part in creating a circular economy by continuing to take action to promote reuse and provide alternatives to throwing items away.
https://about.mercari.com/en/sustainability/