According to the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya (MCAK) more than 95% of imported secondhand clothing is not waste, yet operators face punitive taxes and regulations that threaten their decades of sustainable practices.
MCAK chairperson Teresia Wairimu Njenga says 2024 marks their “most successful and global advocacy campaign ever” but calls on global recycling and recyclers to come together to tackle the worst challenges ahead.
Throughout 2024, chairman Njenga traveled through the EU, to the UK, Ghana, and the US, making presentations on behalf of trade. Njenja said that each meeting revealed the same thing to fabric collectors, sorters, bike cleaners and recyclers: that they face additional costs and regulations, which threaten their financial strength and their competitiveness with fast fashion. The EU is currently at the forefront of designing policies that will affect global supply chains, setting an example for the rest of the world to follow. These policies will ultimately impact livelihoods in the global south, including Kenya with 2m traders and 6.2m families buying used clothing regularly and should be informed by solid research and data.
MCAK, along with its international partners, has supported or approved many academic studies from Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda that conclude that less than 5% of used goods are waste, contrary to the widely cited but erroneous figure of 40 percent.
MCAK also calls on policymakers to use hard data and research to inform their decisions instead of relying on inaccurate and inaccurate research and advocacy materials.
Such misinformation, which wrongly identifies the importation of used clothing as a major cause of waste management failures, has been a major threat to the second-hand trade.
MCAK and others continue to call on policymakers to focus policy solutions and investments on the broader issues of local waste management and recycling and the increasing overproduction of fast fashion worldwide.
Njenga said: “Secondhand clothing is part of the solution to overproduction of textiles, not the problem – they are an example of a circular economy and are important in Kenya and other countries like Ghana. Research shows more than 95% of used clothing imported is non-wasteful, yet operators face punitive taxes and regulations that threaten decades of their sustainable practices.
“Policymakers must support reuse, collection, sorting, promotion, and recycling, targeting new clothing producers instead of workers in the circular economy, especially with the collection of textiles that is an EU obligation from 2025. You must not fall for false information sponsored by those who will benefit from it. the downfall of this trade: fast fashion.