It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable

UNEP

Chemical Usage / UNEP Project

15 October 2022

2 minutes

The 'Reducing uses and releases of chemicals of concern in the textiles sector' programme will provide technical support and tools for SMEs and manufacturers to improve their knowledge and management of hazardous chemicals, guiding them to manage risks to workers, and eventually eliminate the worst chemicals from their production processes.

Four Textile-Producing Countries Unite to Reduce Chemical Waste in Industry

The Governments of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Viet Nam have joined forces to fight chemical pollution, launching a joint $43-million programme to manage and reduce hazardous chemicals in their textile industries.

Staff Writer

Greenwashing / Quantis Guidance

13 October 2022

2 minutes

The Quantis guidance notes: In line with heightened levels of scrutiny from investors and consumers as well as a growing landscape of environmental regulations, the use of environmental claims has become mainstream. At the same time, greenwashing — the use of misleading environmental claims — has also been on the rise.

Now, Quantis Issues Guidelines to Avoid Greenwashing

Environmental consultancy Quantis has published a guidance that is meant to help companies and brands avoid any potential risks of greenwashing statements by enabling them to shape clear, transparent and substantiated claims. It notes that while the use of environmental claims has become mainstream, greenwashing—the use of misleading environmental claims—has also been on the rise.

Staff Writer

Development / UNEP InTex

27 April 2022

4 minutes

Africa Collect Textiles (ACT), headquartered in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi, upcycles textile waste into rugs, toys, yarn and other products that can be re-introduced to the market, is a partner of a much bigger Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Stakeholder approach: Shifting business models to make them more innovative and sustainable

The Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex) project of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is helping to improve resource efficiency and promote circularity in textiles in regions far from the glare of Big Media. The underlying idea is simple: empower local stakeholders.

Subir Ghosh

Report

Circularity / Kenya

26 April 2022

6 minutes

Clothes being sorted at an ACT workshop. ACT collects mostly from the middle and upper classes. Up to 70% of what it collects is women’s clothing. That is probably because women care more about climate change and sooner take the effort to bring items to their collection bins, but possibly also because they buy or need more clothing.

Importers of 'mitumba' should be held responsible for the waste this sector creates

Doing away with secondhand garments is easier said than done because people do need access to affordable clothing. Founder of Nairobi-headquartered Africa Collect Textiles (ACT), Elmar Stroomer, believes it is time to add a waste tax on imported items and the funds should be invested in high-end collection and recycling infrastructure.

Subir Ghosh

Interview

Circularity / Kenya

25 April 2022

5 minutes

Children's toys made with recycled denim. Brands and producers are becoming responsible for the waste that they generate, but that does not apply to secondhand clothes shipped to Africa, though technically it should. For developed nations it will become more and more challenging to export used clothes to countries that lack textile waste processing infrastructure.

We never wanted to copy-paste a European collection and recycling model

Nairobi-headquartered Africa Collect Textiles (ACT) is run by ordinary people with extraordinary ideas on how to divert textiles from landfills. No one believed recycling clothes would work in a country where a sizeable proportion of people wears secondhand clothes from abroad. Founder Elmar Stroomer tells us why and how it does.