Conversation about Waste Driven by People from Outside with Flawed Data to Push their Agenda

The ban on textile waste from the EU is going to affect the second-hand clothing sector in all African countries. What is the extent of damage that you foresee? How many jobs are going to be lost in your country? How many businesses will have to shut down?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: Western policymakers need to base their decisions and regulations on well-sourced academic data and evidence, not the deeply flawed guesstimates of activists. They also need to talk to and accept personal experiences of the African people whose lives will be affected most by their decisions and use the rigorous academic data gathered from African studies in their policy discourse.

Listen to Africans, put aside your assumptions, consider our data and evidence, and stop being led by the deeply flawed data pushed by activists and others.

That this is a chance to listen to the facts and listen to Africans. I represent millions of Ghanaians whose livelihoods are supported by a flourishing SHC sector.

This is a long-established sector that supports millions of green direct jobs, tens of millions of livelihoods, provides billions in pounds in tax income to African governments as well as helping to drive the transition to the type of circular economy the world needs if it is to fight climate change.

Increased regulation could lead to bureaucratic complexities, potentially hindering the efficiency of SHC import into Ghana. As our report details, the SHC sector is a lifeline for many, and additional barriers could adversely affect the livelihoods of millions who rely on this trade.

The government too earns revenue for every container of second-hand clothing that comes into the country. With the EU ban, the government too will be hit on revenues. What is the loss that you envisage? Are you working with your own government on this?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: My government is not involved  in the discussion yet. The trade still contributed an estimated $29.5 million to government revenues in import taxes in 2022, demonstrating substantial economic benefit.

The only ones who stand to gain from all this are fast fashion brands. Comments, please.
Edward Atobrah Binkley: Fast fashion brands are the only ones who stand to gain from the misconceptions surrounding the SHC trade. Activists in the Global North have promoted flawed data, suggesting high waste levels from SHC imports into Africa. This narrative has led to regulatory pressures that could harm millions of livelihoods in Africa, where the SHC trade supports green jobs, generates tax revenue, and provides affordable clothing. The misinformation benefits fast fashion companies by potentially reducing competition from the SHC market.

What is fashion waste in Europe is affordable fashion for many people in many African countries. Do you think activists, journalists and politicians in both the US and Europe fail to grasp this? There is clearly a communication gap.
Edward Atobrah Binkley: The SHC trade plays a crucial role in the global circular economy by extending the lifecycle of garments and reducing the environmental impacts of new clothes production—by, for example, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption. The report highlights that Ghana’s SHC trade contributes to sustainable consumption under SDG 12, mitigating the broader environmental costs associated with fast fashion.

Instead of going into landfills, good quality second hand clothes can be sold and reused in other countries. The alternative is the production of more cheap clothes, known today as fast fashion which causes ecological damage, from carbon dioxide emissions and water waste to the use of damaging chemicals and dyes.

The West is encouraged to recycle, reuse, and mitigate using unnecessary resources, such as those produced by fast-fashion—it is contradictory and hypocritical to not apply these good intentions to Africa.

Have you been engaging with policymakers in the EU about the waste ban? If so, what is the response that you have got? Were you consulted by EU policymakers about the issue at all?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: EU policymakers have not tried to speak to people who buy those textiles, like Africans, or tried to understand the impact on African traders of their decisions on second-hand clothes.

I am concerned that the views of western policymakers are too often based on unsourced information, and allegations from campaigners, some of whom are funded by fast fashion, but not backed by independent and robust research.

You will not end the problem of waste management in Africa by ending SHC exports. The result of banning or restricting second hand clothes exports to the global south will be that more mass-produced cheap fast fashion will be  imported into Africa.

All said, the issues raised by the Or/CMF/Greenpeace reports cannot be wished away. There are countless photographs of the piles of textile waste. So, what's the source of this waste? On an average, how much is generated every day?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: You can always use a photo to manipulate a story, especially when they are driven by an agenda.

Such images, while powerful, are not data and do not represent the true situation. We know that they are desperately sought and then cropped to fit negative stories about Ghana by those who wish to sensationalise the truth. Our independent, data-driven report shows that textile waste accounts for less than 5% of total waste in Accra, and the figure for SHC waste is even lower. It’s essential to differentiate between occasional incidents that can be highly sensationalised, and widespread practice.

The truth is that if we banned or limited theSHCtrade tomorrow, we would not fix the waste management issues in our country.

Nobody wants to see waste, but the proportion of waste from SHC in Ghana is much lower than often portrayed. Considering Accra alone produces 900,000 tonnes of solid waste annually, the SHC waste — even at its maximum estimate — constitutes less than 1% of the city's total waste. The key is in improving recycling and waste management systems, an area where our report suggests that the government should engage more actively.

Waste dumps come with their own set of problems, especially those related to environment and health. Are you working with solid waste management experts (be it civil society or government)? Do you have an alternative plan that takes care of this?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: Our report indeed advocates for more robust policies to enhance the sustainability and benefits of the SHC trade. We recommend that the government formulates comprehensive end-of-life textile policies and strengthens waste management infrastructure to support the industry's growth and sustainability.

No country has mastered how to efficiently deal with waste. Not European nations, not the US, not Canada, no one. And we haven’t yet either. But to ban second-hand clothes is to tackle the wrong problem. More effective general waste management is needed in Ghana, as it is in so many places.

We have been engaging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on waste management issues in Ghana.

Another grouse against SHC is that it cuts into local manufacturing and traditional textiles, both. How much of this is true, according to you? Are you doing anything to see that the second sector does not harm local industry?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: The SHC trade and local textile industries cater to different segments of the market and can coexist beneficially. It provides affordable options to a demographic that may not typically purchase new, locally made garments, meaning that it does not directly compete with local textile producers.

There is no significant evidence from our data that SHC imports have led to a decline in local textile production, which is more affected by broader economic developments and global trade factors.

Our report advocates policies that support both sectors. A thriving SHC market does not exclude the possibility of a strong local textiles industry; in fact, it can lead to a more diverse and resilient fashion sector in Ghana.

On the contrary, the SHC trade complements the market for new garments. Consumers often blend SHC with new clothing, as evidenced by the 83.1% of consumers surveyed who spend less than half of their annual clothing budget on SHC. This indicates a balanced consumer approach that supports both the SHC and new garment markets.

The SHC sector clearly has an image management and PR management problem. Every other day there is an article in the Western media about fashion waste in some African country or the other. And it's not going to stop any time soon. How are you going to build a counter-narrative?
Edward Atobrah Binkley: We asked for this report because none of us recognised the claims that went round the world in the last 18 months which said that 40% of the SHC imports are waste and used in landfills or dumped in rivers. We wanted to find out the truth with the first ever academic and source-led report into the industry.

And we are glad that we did, as it shows that less than 5% is waste, and even much of that can be reused into other useful items such as cloths and mops.

The 40% figure is being repeated by the media and by European politicians who have influence on our country. But they are wrong. So now we hope that the media and European politicians who are scrutinising Ghana can read our report, stop repeating false information and look differently at this industry, which 95% of us use and which actually helps reduce carbon emissions.

We are going to build on this report to debunk any falsehood.

Africa will come together to counter these false claims.