An organisation starts somewhere with an idea. When did you first get the idea for ACT? Was it something that had built in you over time? Or was it a reaction to something that you were seeing or experiencing? Who were the people with you at the time?
Already a decade ago Alex and I both worked for a Dutch textile collector and we worked on different types of textile production and recycling projects in the Netherlands and Kenya. It was during that time that we got to learn about the global trade of secondhand clothes. [Alex Musembi is the General Manager for ACT in Nairobi.]
A couple of questions arose in us. For example: why is textile recycling so behind, compared to paper and plastic recycling? Why are only ‘developed’ nations collecting used clothes? Next to that, we expected that one day Kenya would stop importing secondhand clothes from the West, because funds leave the country, and yet many jobs could be created locally if Kenya would produce its own clothes.
Second, brands and producers are becoming responsible for the waste that they generate, but that does not apply to secondhand clothes shipped to Africa, but technically it should. We expect that for developed nations it will become more and more challenging to export used clothes to countries that lack textile waste processing infrastructure.
The fashion industry hurts our planet in many ways. Less than 1% of all textiles is currently being recycled and €500 billion in value is lost every year. We as humans have to make it more circular.
All the scenarios we came up with lead up to the same conclusion: without collecting used textiles clean and dry, there’s no circular fashion. And therefore, every (African) city requires a textile collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure, to justify the importation of used clothes, or to create its own thrifting and recycling sector. We have created a roadmap to make that happen.
The way it works may look simple, but it is anything but that. How did you go about planning it all? Especially because this was about handling both supply (of old garments) and demand (of recycled products), with production in between. Were you sure it would work?
We were not sure at all. And still most people tell us this will not work. Why would you collect used textiles in a country where 80% of the people wear secondhand clothes from abroad and where people have enough family or staff members that will take up their used, but wearable shirt?
First, we never wanted to copy-paste a European collection and recycling model. There are too many different variables. In Western Europe, textile collection focuses on collecting wearable items to sell them to African nations. We assumed from the beginning that our model would focus more on recycling than forwarding wearable items, because we assumed that the overall quality would be lower. At the same time, we also assumed that recycling itself could be more promising, because, compared to Western European countries, labour is more affordable, but raw materials like wood, steel, but also filling materials, can be more expensive. So, we feel that a lot of variables are flipped, and we thought it is not about ‘whether’ textile collection and recycling is a feasible business in Kenya or not; it is ‘how’ textile collection and recycling becomes a feasible business.
Sometimes you just must follow your heart. And it is a worthy goal, even if we would fail. Somebody should have tried this, and so far so good!
