Business ExpandingChopValue, a Canadian company manufacturing furniture solutions from recycled chopsticks, establishes a Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo

ChopValue Manufacturing Ltd. was founded in Vancouver, Canada in 2016 as a circular manufacturing company that recycles disposable chopsticks, and has since scaled its impact to operations in 9 countries. In order to expand its business in Japan, one of the top countries where a large amount of disposable chopsticks are used, the company established a Japanese subsidiary, ChopValue Manufacturing Japan K.K. in Tokyo in July 2024.

The company collects used chopsticks from restaurants, shopping centers, airports and other businesses, processes them at the local Microfactory using immense heat, steam and pressure, to engineer them into premium commercial-grade furniture and building materials. The aim is to provide a wood-alternative solution that has no trade-offs to quality or design, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by recovering disposable chopsticks as urban resources that would otherwise be burned as garbage.

Based on the concept of community-based business, each Microfactory of the company collects used disposable chopsticks from local surroundings and uses them to make products that are to be used within the same area, thereby minimizing the environmental impact and building a business model that realizes a circular economy.

The Japanese subsidiary has already secured a factory site in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture and is aiming to begin full-scale operations in the spring of 2025. The company is also continuing discussions with some Japanese companies for collaborative partnerships.