By Enna Uwaifo. Interview lead by LIS team: Brian Tan, Giacomo Giuggioli, Martha Pearce, Mahana Rae, and Andrii Kolisnyk
Interview with Elnak Recycle’s Emma Forson led by London Interdisciplinary School first year students. Emma’s local innovation focuses on advancing circular economy solutions in Accra, Ghana by breathing new life in discarded textiles.
Elnak Recycling Warehouse set up by Emma Forson
The IE Collective UK was established in July 2024 we set out to create mechanisms to increase investment into the ideas and ventures from our communities. As women from the African diaspora, we exist between our communities in the UK and in Africa and the Caribbean. Between worlds, our communities are most impacted by the environmental crisis, yet excluded from climate finance, employment and leadership opportunities in Global climate and environmental sector.
This is what gave birth to my business Uninhibited Development Solutions. Under our current “Investable Communities Campaign”, we will reframe who deserves investment to make reductions in scope 3 emissions of end-of-life treatment of products and decarbonisation efforts.
EU’s Omnibus proposal means for textile waste in Africa
The latest EU’s Corporate Social Responsibility Omnibus proposal, has reduced the scope what companies trading within the EU and with the EU have to report on in regards sustainability.
In addition, it has drastically reduced the number of companies that have to report. When EU backslides on its social value and sustainability commitments in the value chain, it places greater stresses on African economies still under-invested in, yet carrying the weight of the world’s consumption habits in regards to textile and footwear waste.
In Uninhibited Development Solutions, we aim to create packaged, low-risk investment catalyst products to support your company to streamline your sustainability impact by starting your company’s journey to invest in clean development across African countries. Your company can gain competitive advantage and long-term sustainability through integrating an African clean development strategy into your business, which will reduces the cost of making scope 3 emissions reductions, whilst filling in Africa’s climate finance gap. See our information pack here and book a call with us here.
The new generation of African innovators at the forefront of circular innovation
Communities in Africa are homes to innovators that deserve to be invested in, to be well-resourced and recognised for their creations. Whilst climate finance in Africa is steadily increasing, it is still far below what Africa’s climate adaptation and mitigation needs. Which suggests an ongoing problem of African innovators not being considered eligible for investment compared innovators from wealthier countries.
When we zoom into Ghana’s environmental challenges with textile waste, we understand Ghana has played a significant role in managing the world’s oversupply of clothes.
This brings us to Kantamanto Market. The informal market is responsible for the re-circulation of post-consumer textiles and footwear in the global fashion value chain. Yet, the market has not received true recognition and investment as “textile waste management suppliers”.
Kantamanto re-circulates 100 million pieces of second-hand clothing in 4-month cycles. As a comparison, North American company, ThreadUp has circulated 200 million pieces of clothes over 14 years between 2009-2023. Which suggests that has been a much greater burden and responsibility on Kantamanto market to recirculate textiles yet, no mechanism for funding and investment to increase textile waste management capacity.
The market going without recognition for their textile waste management has left a gapping hole in Ghana’s environmental balance sheet. Nature itself is left to absorb the textile waste problem when Ghana goes without waste management investment. The informal traders are left trading in an ever-increasingly depreciating asset with limited mechanisms in place to invest in the just transition of the market for its long-term sustainability. The market, most likely ran by women, are looking to make less money is made from the trade, and this can leave whole communities poorer.
But to be clear, the issue that needs to be addressed is the need for investment mechanisms, not aid and more charity.
Introducing….. Emma Forson, Founder of Elnak Recycle
That is why innovator, Emma Forson and her team at Elnak Recycle are so vital for Ghana’s pathway to a just transition and investment in clean infrastructure.
Elnak Recycle is locally-led Ghanaian textile waste recycling facility well positioned and with the local knowledge to tackle Ghana’s textile waste issue head-on through giving a second-life to the clothes imported into the country. Elnak needs more capital to scale.
You can find Elnak Recycling’s website here.
The London Interdisciplinary School (LIS) is an innovative university that disrupts university education as we know it. LIS students, Brian Tan, Giacomo Giuggioli, Martha Pearce, Mahana Rae, and Andrii Kolisnyk interviewed Elnak Recycle’s founder, Emma Forson, on behalf of the IE Collective UK and Uninhibited Development Solutions.
In this conversation, their aim was to explore Emma’s journey to becoming a local innovator to solve the textile waste crisis mounting in Accra. Emma is part of a global movement of innovators of tackling the textile wast crisis. She centers the practice and process of building international networks of support and investment revenue, as well as policy changes that focuses on supporting everyone in the global fashion chain. She is focused on building the necessary conditions to transform the lives of local market women and Kayayei (headcarriers, usually from Northern Ghana, that carry the clothing bales from the trucks to the importers and traders’ shops).
Headshot of Founder, Emma Forson
Interview with Emma Forson: Innovating on-the-ground Textile Waste Recycling
LIS: What motivated you to establish Elnak Recycle, and what has been the most fulfilling aspect of your journey so far?
Emma: In university, I worked as a fashion model and got the chance to speak with Ghanian designers who shared their frustrations about generating lots of textile waste and not knowing how to dispose of them properly.
After graduating from university, I joined the Ashesi Venture Incubator with my consignment thrift store business idea. The incubator challenged me to ask deeper questions about my country’s textile industry and after my research, I realised we did not have
sustainable amenities for textile waste.
I decided that with my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I would create solutions for this problem. Less than a year later [after embarking on my business journey], Ghana was named the largest dump for textile waste globally.
Seeing more people all over the world working progressively to tackle the issue has been the most fulfilling aspect of my journey because it validates that textile waste is bigger than one person. It also shows that people are willing to make a change. It makes all of my work worthwhile, so I am grateful for that.
LIS: What are the primary challenges Elnak Recycle has faced in addressing textile waste in Ghana?
Emma: Setting up a top-notch textile recycling facility, streamlined collection services and skills training for our workers is capital intensive. Especially with a massive demand for textile recycling here in Ghana.
Are there specific strategies or initiatives in place to overcome
these challenges, such as scaling operations, forming partnerships,
or integrating new technologies?
We implement the Lean Model where necessary, design and fabricate
our own recycling machinery and are entering new markets and
expanding our network to Europe to generate more revenue. We have
also invested in strategic partnerships to avoid overhead costs.
In your view, what are the most significant threats to sustainability efforts in Ghana, particularly within the textile and waste management sectors?
Policies are by far the greatest contribution to achieving the sustainability goals we have set as a country and as business owners.
Next to that, I would repeat that matching the demand for textile recycling can be capital intensive; recycling equipment, building construction/rentals, to name a few necessities.
Lastly (there are lots more but I will share the 3 main barriers per my opinion), there is a need for more innovations that solve the issue of textiles that cannot be (fully) recycled or are difficult to recycle. Some innovations are too expensive or are not environmentally friendly.
Are there existing or upcoming initiatives from NGOs or
governmental organisations aimed at mitigating these challenges?
There are a number and even more opportunities coming up from private
and public institutions that are helping companies like mine to overcome
some of our challenges. There was the NRW.WIN.Afrika program
organised by GIZ, AHK Ghana and the Ministry of Economic Affairs,
Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North RhineWestphalia in Germany that helped to connect Ghanaian startups to potential German partners.
There are intensive incubators and accelerators such as, the Ashesi Entrepreneurship Centre, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, UNICEF Startup Lab, African Development Bank’s Fashionomics Africa, Standard Chartered Women-In-tech Incubator program, Startup Discovery School Africa Venture Studio Program and more, that are dedicated to educating and equipping entrepreneurs with the skills, network and funding they need. ELNAK Recycle has been fortunate to have been supported by each of the initiatives I mentioned above.
If you had the opportunity to implement a large-scale solution to address textile waste in Ghana, what would it be, and what type of support would be necessary to achieve it?
It would be to put regulations in place that support the market women and everyone along the value chain of textile waste in Ghana. This would require focusing on their pain points and working with governments from the global north (exporters), Ghana’s government and local players in Ghana to create and implement policies that support the entire value chain. We would all work together to foster transparency using digital product passports and ensure taxes on secondhand imports in Ghana are used to fix the textile waste crisis in Ghana.
One of Elnak Recycle’s employees
How investing in Elnak Recycle brings impact into your Sustainability and CSRD strategy
Circular Economy Inclusion
Transforming Waste into Value:
Elnak Recycle addresses Ghana’s textile waste crisis by recycling and repurposing used clothing. Ghana has become a major dumping ground for second-hand clothing, and Elnak Recycle helps turn this environmental burden into a valuable resource. This not only tackles waste management but also positions the company as a leader in circular economy inclusion. Through these actions, Elnak Recycle lays the groundwork for attracting circular economy investments into Ghana, contributing to global sustainability goals.
Local Manufacturing of Recycling Equipment:
In a key step towards local innovation, Elnak Recycle designs and fabricates its own textile recycling machinery, reducing reliance on expensive, imported technologies. This supports the growth of technical expertise in circular fashion within Ghana, positioning the country as a leader in innovative recycling technologies and contributing to the advancement of the global circular economy.
Social Risk Management
Promoting Gender Equality in the Value Chain:
Elnak Recycle is committed to gender equality by focusing on the role of women within the textile waste trade. This commitment is aimed at promoting policy changes that address gender imbalances and inequality in the informal sector. By bringing attention to women’s labor within the post-consumer supply chain, the company strives to create opportunities for women, this can support mitigating modern slavery risks and child labor risks within the post-consumer supply chain. This approach is integral to ethical business practices and sets the stage for a more inclusive and sustainable global fashion industry.
Uninhibited Development Solutions 