Top Reads for Responsible Re-use

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It might be too late to say happy new year, but there’s plenty to watch this year in the global used goods trade.  So here’s to an interesting 2025!

A lot has been written on this topic, particularly on clothing.  Much of it quotes or misquotes a small pool of research.  This matters because it influences public opinion, drives donations one direction or another, and could end up changing regulations and leading to more waste and worse outcomes.  I’ve put together my top 10 reads:

 

  1. As a starter Textiles Market Situation Report 2024 | WRAP gives an overview of the trade, including top level estimates on re-use flows within and outside the UK
  2. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s EPR Textiles Report G 05-24.pdf deals with overall environmental impacts of clothing throughout its lifestyle and how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) might address these, including Ultimate Producer Responsibility (UPR) which follows cross-border re-use to end destinations
  3. The UNCTAD Secondhand Clothing Markets report  gives an overview of market dynamics and quality criteria in Uganda and Tanzania. Based on interviews with nearly 2000 traders it concludes that no more than 5% of imported second-hand clothing is waste on arrival
  4. An Evaluation of the Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact of the Second-hand Clothes Trade in Ghana 2024 by the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association involved interviews with stakeholders and members of the public and questionnaires to traders which generated 370 responses. They concluded that there is no more than 5% waste in used clothing imported into their markets
  5. Another useful research piece on Ghana is Second Hand – Second Thoughts a report by the German re-use network Fairwertung which sets out the retail, recycling and disposal processes.  It doesn’t attempt to quantify waste but accepts there are both problems with quality control and with local waste management systems
  6. Used textiles at Kantamanto market (Ghana) a study by the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles in 2024 covers a lot of ground on mass balance analyses, global recycling flows and key partners. Part of the research was to introduce a rebate, a sort of simulation of EPR, pitched at 3.7 euro cents per kg.  This suggested textile waste levels are far lower than commonly reported and that nearly half of the waste is tailors’ scraps rather than whole unsold items
  7. By far the most quoted report on Ghana must be the 2022 Waste Landscape Report  from The OR Foundation. The report is rich on detail, imagery, anecdote and nuance. It has one important statistic in it – that 40% of imported used clothing in Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana, is waste on arrival (p25).  Crucially though the 40% is related to ‘third selection…selling at a fraction of the price of first selection’.  Low value, not unsaleable.  The report refers 4% as unsaleable ‘fourth selection’
  8. In a similar vein Trashion: The stealth export of waste plastic clothes to Kenya claims 20-50% of used clothing imports entering Nairobi in Kenya are ‘waste’.  They cite 6 traders and mention 7 bales being sampled.  They equate ‘waste’ with ‘fagia’, a Swahili term meaning sweep – saleable but low quality goods
  9. The-Quality-of-Second-Hand-Clothes-Imported-to-Kenya-and-the-Associated-Environmental-Impacts.pdf commissioned by the MCAK (Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya) uses a more substantial sample of 120 people involved in the trade. It concludes that less than 2% of imported used clothing is unsaleable
  10. Returning to the EPR question WRAP have produced a short FAQ-based Report on textiles EPR, which is an emerging EU objective during 2025 and due full implementation across member states before 2028.  It mentions the challenge of products placed on the market in one country, but becoming waste in another, and how UPR might tackle this by paying towards waste management in countries like Ghana and Kenya.  UPR is still a concept which has not been tested with textiles.

 

Looking ahead UNEP is working on a global guideline on usability with input from The Or Foundation in Ghana and researchers in Kenya, Tunisia and Pakistan. They expect to complete this in Sep 2025 Circularity and Used Textile Trade Project | UNEP – UN Environment Programme. One to look out for.

If you want to save yourself a few thousand pages of reading my elevator pitch on this huge topic:

  • A lot of people have valid concerns about the quality of used clothing traded into African markets
  • ‘Waste’ means different things to different people
  • All available research points to less than 5% being actually unsaleable waste
  • That can still create a waste burden where there are limited proper disposal routes
  • Better quality criteria and EPR/UPR are emerging as responses

Be assured TRUST will be doing what it can in 2025 to raise standards, address the quality question and advance visibility of the value chain.

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David Roman
Chair of TRUST Forum