WASTE & RECYCLING MANAGEMENT

CONCEPT NOTE "TEXTILE RECYCLING IN GHANA":

THE LOCAL CONTEXT TODAY

In Accra, about 12 containers of used clothing arrive every day, and the industry can be very profitable. But it carries an unusual business risk. Importers who can spend up to several tens of thousands of dollars on a container of clothing have no idea what they are buying. In effect, they are buying blind. It is only after opening the bales of clothes that they discover their quality. If they are in good condition, the profit can easily reach 15,000 dollars per container. But if the clothes are torn, stained or out of fashion for a long time, the importer can lose his entire investment. It is now commonly accepted that 40% of the secondhand textile merchandise imported into Ghana is of such poor quality that it immediately ends up as waste on the beaches of Accra.

THE INTERNATIONAL ORIGIN OF IT

If most of the actors of the sector accuse a real degradation of the quality of the clothes which they buy blindly in bulk, the origin of this negative evolution is multiple. The main cause is undoubtedly the emergence and rapid growth of the "fast fashion" in Western countries and the significant decline in the quality of clothing that has resulted of it. Moreover, the used clothes are collected in Europe and America by NGOs which then market the high-end part of it in their associative networks, export the low end to Africa and even worse mix secondhand clothes before sending them with the unusable clothes normally destined to be recycled in situ according to the new environmental standards in force in the West. They achieve the amazing feat of transforming a cost into income on the backs of African buyers.

HOW TO FIGHT THIS PLAGUE

The first idea that comes to mind after reading the above is to proclaim and make effective the ban on the import of these textile wastes into Ghana. After a more detailed analysis, one should note first that not only does this ban already exist in Ghanaian legislation, even if its application remains very relative, but that in most Western countries environmental legislation has also made the export of waste illegal. The problem is that textile waste is not exported as waste but as secondhand goods and is also bought as such on arrival. Not only do Africans buy the textile waste that is sent to them, but also because of its misleading qualification it escapes any serious statistics on the origin of the pollution that results from it in Ghana for example. This being admitted, the second idea would be to ban this second-hand trade altogether. Here again, a more detailed analysis is required, weighing the benefits Ghana derives from this trade against the disadvantages it generates, not to mention the entire economic sector that lives off this business in Ghana, which would be completely devastated if these imports were called into question. The Or Foundation has been working on the issue of textile recycling since 2011 in Ghana and they recently launched a campaign focused on making EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) Globally Accountable as a mechanism to fund a Justice-led transition to circularity. This is certainly the right approach to the problem, but since it is based on international agreements to be implemented, it will only produce effects in the long term, and it is unfortunately also absolutely necessary to have short-term solutions. To find effective solutions it is necessary to get out of one's comfort zone and have an "out of the box" approach to get out of the common vision of lamenting a situation over which no one has any real control or the slightest beginning of practical solutions. The first postulate of this new approach is to stop considering textile waste as a problem but as an opportunity for projects that will no longer aim at eliminating waste but at using a new raw material to transform. The second postulate is to use the feeling of guilt in this environmental fiasco of the countries exporting second-hand garments to encourage them to provide Capex aid that will support the most innovative projects. The third postulate is to consolidate the business plans of the most innovative projects with these grants to trigger private bank financing in order to guarantee the long-term sustainability of these projects.

OBJECTIVES

The project that we develop, based on the analysis of the situation, aims to achieve 3 objectives:

abandoned in the wild, the project wants to set up a static database on the origin of the waste that will then be recycled, to eventually establish a true cartography of their origin which will then serve to sensitize and confront the countries exporting textile waste to their own turpitude and thus be a strong incentive to accelerate the implementation of the EPR mechanism suggested by the Or Foundation.

project aims to develop a true circular economy around this sector.

the static sorting and recycling activities, the project aims to demonstrate that being a victim of poliomyelitis does not necessarily condemn you to beg in Ghana.

• By organizing the collection and sorting of textile waste before it is
• By implementing the most innovative textile recycling methods, the
• Finally, by promoting the employment of persons with disabilities in

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths In Ghana, labor is abundant and cheap if one imagines organizing the sorting of used clothing with a view to "manufacturing" raw material by textile fiber and/or by color in order to feed the spinning mills. Setting up such an organization in Ghana requires a lot of manpower rather than organizing this sorting at the source, i.e. before export, is inherently cost competitive. If we also imagine a waste collection line at the exit of the port of Tema for example, we will collect in one point almost the entire flow without giving it time to spoil in nature and thus we save all the costs of logistics that would have to be put in place to collect the textile abandoned in the wild. These two aspects are undoubtedly the major strengths around which the project must be built. Weaknesses The Ghanaian administration is cumbersome and extremely slow. Moreover, any adaptation of the Ghanaian legislation that would be likely to favor recycling projects in general and textile recycling in particular requires an even longer time to become law. Opportunities New textile fibers from recycled secondhand clothing must obviously be part of a new brand around the principle of sustainable development and there is undoubtedly a growing and even exponential demand for such products in the clothing industry today. The creation of new textile fibers from used clothing that would no longer end up in landfills undoubtedly fulfills several of the 17 sustainable development goals that Ghana has set for itself. It is also obvious that if the textile waste imported in the secondhand business flow is captured at the exit of the big commercial ports, the impact on the reduction of pollution of this nature will be quickly visible and measurable. The creation of statistics on the geographical origin of the waste that Ghana imports under the false name of "second-hand clothing" will undoubtedly be a powerful political tool to force exporting countries to face up to the pollution that they delegate to third countries without taking responsibility for it. Threats Any manufacturing industry requires stability in the supply of raw materials. Here, by not controlling the amount of such fiber contained in secondhand clothes bought blindly the fluctuation of the amount of raw material produced by the recycling can represent a problem or even a danger for the stability of the project. It will also be necessary to be attentive to the residual and incompressible waste resulting from the processes of recycling implemented in order not to replace a pollution by another and to contain them, it will be necessary to be attentive to the control of the costs.

JOINING THE ECONOMY OF THE FUTURE

There are different ways to recycle textile materials: Wiping Cutting of textiles at the end of their life to transform them into wiping cloths for industry Mechanical recycling : Effilochage Return to the fiber Mechanical recycling : Shredding Obtaining granules Mechanical recycling : Compounding Reinjection of 100% synthetic textile material in the manufacture of plastic materials Chemical recycling Regeneration of synthetic or artificial fibers through a process of dissolution / repolymerization But in order to feed these different recycling channels, the first step is sorting. We believe that it is necessary to conceive this sorting by associating it with the constitution of databases on the origin of the sorted textile wastes. The statistics that should be derived from this will constitute the basis for the accountability of the countries that produce this waste and will help to convince them of the need for their financial involvement in covering the costs of recycling in proportion to the amount of waste that can be attributed to them. The sorting of these textile wastes in Ghana can then feed a local recycling industry which is obviously necessary to create or feed recycling channels already established in the issuing countries by sending back to them the sorted waste; making them pay the cost of the sorting, plus the cost of transportation to redirect these recycled textiles to their countries of origin.

BE INSPIRED BY THE MOST INNOVATIVE

Le Relais, an Emmaus French NGO organization, has been developing Page5 and marketing a range of insulation products for several years: Métisse. What makes them special? They come from the recycling of old cotton clothes, including blue jeans and velvet pants. These insulating materials, which offer interesting performances in terms of flame retardancy and respect for the health of installers and occupants, have been certified by the CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment), the French construction products regulatory authority. The Rifò (meaning "I remake", in Italian) company was founded in October 2017, in the textile district of Prato in Tuscany, Italy. The company regenerates noble textile fibres, such as cashmere, using a proven technology developed in the Prato textile district over a hundred years ago. By Rifò the textile scraps are torn, reconverted into wool fibres and transformed into yarns, to be used for very fine products, with exceptional saving of natural resources. Rifò claims to save by the used process 90% of water, 77% of energy, 90% of chemicals, 95% of CO2 emission and 100% of dyers in comparison to the virgin yarn production. In particular, dyes are not used in the production process, as the scraps are initially sorted according to their colour. The production and assembly techniques used for the garments ensure their durability and recyclability. The company Renewcell in Sweden developed a patented process for chemical recycling of cotton and viscose garments. The textiles are shredded, de-buttoned, de-zipped, de-colored and turned into a slurry. Contaminants and other non- cellulosic content are separated from the slurry. The slurry is dried to produce Circulose®, a branded ‘dissolving pulp’ made from 100% recycled textiles. The sheets of Circulose® are finally packaged into bales and fed back into the textile production value chain as a biobased equal-quality replacement for virgin materials like cotton, oil and wood. More challenging is the recycling of products made from different synthetic and blended fibers. According to Amrei Becker, a textile engineer at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, products made with man-made fibers of synthetic blends can be recycled using any of four methods:

In mechanical recycling LAROCHE S.A. (renowned France-based Company) provides technology for mechanical recycling of synthetic textiles and cotton textiles and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), in collaboration with fashion giants such as H&M, developed a mechanical garment-to-garment recycling system that acts as a mini production line to process post-consumer clothing into sanitized recycled garments. In thermo-mechanical recycling the Swiss technology group OC Oerlikon’s subsidiary offers cutting-edge solutions using the regranulation process for recycling synthetic textiles and PET. In physico-chemical recycling the Switzerland-based Sulzer Chemtech offers breakthrough DEVO technology for solvent-based separation/recycling and the UK-based Worn Again Technologies has gained a name for itself in this space and is working with stakeholders in the textile industry to provide solutions for Physico-chemical recycling. Finally in chemical recycling the Aquafil Group of Italy is one of the leading companies that use proprietary technology to produce commercially chemically recycled nylon.

• Mechanical recycling (tearing)
• Thermo-mechanical recycling (regranulation)
• Physico-chemical recycling (solvent-based separation)
• Chemical recycling (back to Oglimer/monomer)

ADAPTING INNOVATION TO GHANA

Recycling solutions adapted to the reality of Ghana will have to emerge from a thorough analysis of the typologies of used clothes that end their life in Ghana and a comparative study between in situ treatment of the waste or its return to reprocessing facilities in its country of origin. One of the first innovations of this sector to be born in Ghana will undoubtedly be the organization of the sorting of textile waste and its social solidarity aspect in the involvement of handicapped workers who today have only begging as a means of survival.

REFERENCES

OR Foundation – Liz Ricketts & Branson Skinner Stop Waste Colonialism! - Liz Ricketts & Branson Skinner 14/02/2023 Le Relais by Emmaus – Metisse Project 2007 Rifò - regenerating noble textile fibers into timeless pieces of clothing – EU News The Renewcell textile Plant – European Investment Bank 2014 Challenges & Solutions for Recycling of Manmade Synthetic Fibers – Textil Focus 21/08/2022

EXTERNAL LINKS

Source: Dipl.-Ing. Francois Meysembourg (Aftercare Division GIPC) – March 2023

External Links (QR codes vers L3)

• OR Foundation Use Garments take- We make Fashion
• back Service Circular