WasteAid’s Director of Programmes, Michelle Wilson, joined experts from around the globe at a special UN conference in Geneva last month to explore the issue of waste crimes and the environment.

She was invited to participate by UNCTAD (UN Trade & Development), as a key partner on FCDO’s global Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Programme (SMEP). The event aimed to gain a better understanding of the scale, scope, and dynamics of illicit trade flows in solid waste so that policies can be better tailored to address the root problem from a development perspective. It also sought to foster collaboration among stakeholders so that a comprehensive approach to combat the illicit trade in waste could be developed.

According to UNCTAD, illicit waste trade is considered the most profitable environmental crime and encompasses activities across sorting, transporting, and disposing of waste that does not abide by regulations. The profit generated from illicit waste amounts to US$ 10–12 billion annually, which puts it on a par with other major crime areas such as human trafficking.

Michelle was invited to be a panellist where she, and others, were asked to reflect on the topic of waste crimes that affect the environment, particularly concerning imports and exports of textile.

Here, Michelle shares her thoughts on this important event.

This year’s conference theme was The Global Analysis on Crimes that Affect the Environment: Waste Crime and Trafficking. I was there in the capacity of representing WasteAid’s FCDO funded project, Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Programme (SMEP) which focuses on the recovery and repurposing of secondary textiles in Uganda.

There were some excellent issues raised during the panel session. The UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) discussed the difficulties in tracking waste crimes due to a simple lack of harmonisation of the waste codes that are used in waste imports. There are currently four sets of codes that are; Basel Convention Codes, OECD Codes, EU Waste Codes and HS Codes all used by exporters. There was a general plea for harmonisation and consolidation across the import coding regime.

A hot topic in terms of textiles is the efficacy of bans on second hand textile trade. With potential secondary textile bans from Europe and into countries like Uganda, in the presentation I delved a bit into the evidence on efficacy of blanket bans. From my research evidence suggests that illegal trade occurs mainly where there are blanket bans on secondary clothing imports in place. For example, South Africa and Nigeria used to ranked 11^th and 15^th out of 50 destinations for used clothing exports from OECD countries, despite markets being officially closed and bans in place. From the evidence, it seems that outright bans are problematic to implement, create illegal trade and result in vital lost tax revenue for the state. A consensus seemed to be that rather than outright textile bans, a better approach would be to design an export/import coding regime that lets in textiles that can be resold and repurposed and to keep out those textiles that cannot.

WasteAid’s project in Uganda will hopefully help to contribute to this body of knowledge. The project also seeks to add to the body of knowledge of how much of the imported clothes become ‘waste’. For example from research carried out in Kenya and Ghana, rejection rates of second hand clothing appears to between 3% and 10%, far lower than the 40% figure read in reports from West Africa (Mountains of clothes washed up on Ghana beach show cost of fast fashion | The Independent. Our project in Uganda seeks to add to this body of knowledge and to support the development of policy which can protect jobs and the environment at the same time.

Global discussions to find local solutions to textile waste.

The UN event was useful and has clear implications for our project in Uganda. There are two key areas where I believe we can contribute to the global discussion on textile crimes.

• Implication for the classification of imports of textiles: The Circular Textile Project in Uganda could help contribute to the body of knowledge on the type or volume of secondary textiles can be imported into countries like Uganda that can support vital jobs without harming the environment.
• Blanket bans don’t work: Blanket bans on importation of secondary textiles simply push the trade underground where taxes/import duty is then lost, as well as vital jobs for the informal sector.

Read more about our work in Uganda here.

Our BBC Radio 4 Appeal is now live!

We’re thrilled to feature on BBC Radio 4 this week where our fundraising appeal is being broadcast to the nation!

Renowned chef, vocal environmentalist, and journalist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is championing our appeal and we couldn’t ask for a better advocate. He shared our appeal on Radio 4 on Sunday, and it will be broadcast again this Thursday. You can also listen to it on BBC Sounds.

Being part of the BBC Radio 4 appeal is a huge step forward in our campaign to raise £1 million in time for our 10^th anniversary next year. Every donation made to the Radio 4 appeal is being matched by a generous donor up to a total of £15k so every pound donated is effectively doubled!

We’re hugely grateful for donations of any size – they all add up to allow us to support even more communities to find value in waste while addressing the health, environmental, and economic consequences of the global waste crisis. £30 provides collectors with protective clothing and safety equipment while £50 allows a waste-picker to attend a training day – improving their knowledge and skills.

To support the appeal, donations can be made via this link from Sunday 28th April: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yqhr

Why Hugh has chosen to support WasteAid

Hugh has been vocal throughout his career about his conservation and environmental passions. He has seen the devastating impact of the waste crisis first-hand while filming his documentary series War on Plastics and Hugh’s War on Waste.

On the global waste crisis, Hugh said: “The true scale of the global waste crisis was brought home to me while filming in Malaysia a few years ago. We came across a mountain of dumped plastic containers, bottles, bags – all sorts and all shipped in from around the world.”

He added: “The thing I really like about WasteAid’s work is it isn’t just about cleaning up the planet, it’s about working with local communities and empowering them too.”

WasteAid works hard to support the people most impacted by the daily consequences of the global waste crisis. The communities we operate in don’t have the infrastructure in place to cope with the amount of waste produced, leading it to be dumped or burned which causes more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere than the global aviation industry. Through mentoring and coaching programmes, access to investments and technical knowledge sharing we work with communities to find lasting solutions to their waste challenges while also helping them to improve their economic outlook.

Our CEO, Ceris Turner-Bailes, said: “We are so grateful to Hugh for shining a light on the work WasteAid is doing to empower communities that are the worst affected by the global waste crisis and helping them to implement lasting and sustainable solutions that both improve their futures and the environment.

“With his support, we’re hopeful our BBC Radio 4 appeal will be a significant step forward in our  £1 million fundraising campaign.”

You can listen again to WasteAid’s BBC Radio 4 Appeal on Thursday 2nd May at 3:27 pm.

Donations can be made here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yqhr

Please note that donations can be made to this page until 11.59 pm on Saturday 4 May. Any donations made after this time may go to a different charity.

As part of the countdown to our 10-year anniversary in 2025, we’ve committed to raising £1 million. We’re on a mission to help people and the planet thrive.

Our fundraising campaign will allow us to support even more people impacted by the daily consequences of the global waste crisis. We need to expand our reach and build our programmes further across plastic, organic, electronic, and textile waste.

WasteAid’s approach is anchored by inclusive circular economy principles. We bring together people at every stage of the waste management chain from waste collectors and village leaders to policy makers and major business leaders. Through mentoring and coaching programmes, access to investments and technical knowledge sharing we work with communities to find lasting solutions to their waste challenge.

Across the globe, one in three people has no waste management service which leads to high levels of pollution, health challenges, and contributes significantly to global warming. Burned and dumped waste releases more CO2 than the aviation industry, while children in communities suffering the worst effects of waste are eight times more likely to suffer health complications.

Our vision is to create a world in which waste causes no harm, and where people in communities impacted by poor waste management are empowered to recover value from dumped materials.

Positively impacting one million people

More than a million people were positively impacted by our projects in Cameroon, Egypt, The Gambia and South Africa between 2022 and 2023. With your support, we want to benefit a million more.

What’s more, our programmes successfully saved 244.20 kilotons of C02 emissions through waste being reused or recycled. Shockingly, this is the equivalent of travelling around the earth’s equator by car 37 times!

Our programmes include plastic recycling schemes, supporting entrepreneurs and green businesses, e-waste and textile upcycling, food waste reuse and developing circular economy networks.

How will we use £1 million to transform lives?

Empowering women and youth waste collectors: Our ‘wastepreneur’ programmes provide waste collectors and green micro-business owners with the skills, knowledge, and investment they need to improve their earning potential from waste.

Mentoring and knowledge sharing: WasteAid brings together people at every stage of the waste value chain from policymakers to waste collectors. Our innovative partnerships share best practice insights, mentoring, and training between our partners in the UK and countries where we’re active.

Circular Economy Network: Inclusive circular economy principles are at the heart of our approach. We’ve seen the transformational power of our circular economy network in The Gambia, Vietnam, South Africa and India and plan to evolve and develop this approach further.

Innovative, lasting solutions: Ultimately, WasteAid works with community leaders, business owners, academics, politicians, and environmentalists to develop tailored solutions that will deliver lasting economic, environmental, and health benefits.

How you can help?

Donations of all sizes will help us achieve our fundraising target.

For businesses, partnering with WasteAid is a great way to support your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals while bringing teams together to support an important environmental cause. Whether a one-off donation or longer strategic support, we will work with you to create a customised support package that meets your internal and external objectives.

Or why not challenge yourself to a fundraising activity? Bake sales, charity runs or raffles are all fun and effective ways of raising money for a charitable cause that’s close to your heart. If you’re lacking inspiration about how you can support us, we can provide you with a fundraising pack that is full of ideas.

You can donate to our 10^th anniversary campaign here.

WasteAid has announced that this year it has expanded its reach into Uganda, launching programmes to support the country to develop a more robust circular economy and to tackle its growing waste problem.  Specifically, WasteAid will be focusing on reducing textile waste through circular solutions and will be expanding its hugely successful ‘wastepreneur’ project which has been positively impacting microenterprises and reducing waste in communities across Johannesburg since 2022.

The charity, which is already active in other African countries as well as India, is able to commence programming in Uganda after securing funding from the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of its Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) programme and also with the support of long-term partner, the multinational distribution company, Bunzl Plc.

WasteAid is set to launch its successful Wastepreneur business incubator programme this month in Kampala. This 2-year initiative will support women and youth entrepreneurs in the waste and recycling space through providing training, seed funding, and mentoring. WasteAid will help participants improve their earning potential by unlocking value from waste and at the same time work to reduce waste in communities across the capital, diverting it from landfill. The charity’s tried and tested approach has already created hundreds of Wastepreneurs in South Africa and Cameroon.

The new Uganda programme also sees WasteAid tackling textile waste on a large scale for the first time, with a programme specifically focused on imported textiles.  A high proportion of these second-hand clothes for a variety of reasons remain unsold and are discarded and dumped.  It is estimated that 26 tonnes per day of textiles waste ends up in the Kiteezi dump in Kampala.

WasteAid is working in partnership with a national vocational college in Uganda (Management Training and Advisory Centre) and will collaborate with second-hand clothes sellers and tailors, product designers, and manufacturers to explore how materials can be diverted from landfill and recycled into new products such as accessories, clothing, cleaning items, and soft furnishings.  This will be achieved through training, support with infrastructure and equipment and the charity’s flagship innovation competitions.

WasteAid’s CEO, Ceris Bailes-Turner said: “We’re delighted to be extending our reach and impact by opening up a new country programme in Uganda.  Having spent much of the last year exploring the possibility of working in Uganda, we are satisfied that WasteAid will be supporting organisations and individuals who are strongly committed to tackling the waste crisis and to adopting circular economy approaches.  Once again, I am delighted that as an organisation we will be working with governmental partners, community-based organisations and the private sector to deliver our projects.  Our initiatives have already been welcomed by Ministries and national agencies and we look forward to continuing to engage at all levels to really move the dial on tackling textile and plastic waste”.

WasteAid works with communities around the world who are facing some of the greatest challenges caused by the global waste crisis. By providing technical expertise, training, mentoring, investment, and creating circular economy networks it aims to not only find lasting solutions to waste management but also alleviate poverty and reduce the health impact by supporting people to launch green businesses and create job opportunities.

by Angela Ludek, WasteAid’s Project Officer – Informal Sector Engagement, South Africa

About 360,000 tonnes of e-waste is generated each year across South Africa, with the province of Gauteng responsible for approximately 55% of this total. Globally e-waste is growing at a rapid rate with a lot of e-waste shipped to Africa and Asia for recycling. Around 50 million tons is generated annually. This is equivalent to throwing out 432 laptops every minute.

According to the EPR Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), South Africans produce about 6.2kg of electronic waste per person per year. Around 12% of this is formally recycled and the majority of the remainder makes its way straight to landfill, where it dissolves gradually into the gross sludge that permeates at the landfill, known as leaching. This is hazardous to both human and environmental health as e-waste contains extremely toxic chemicals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury, flame retardants and certain phthalates. With the reality of strained structural resources in South Africa, a lot of e-waste is simply burned in communities, which means that people living there, including children, have high exposure to the toxicity released.

In between there is a missing middle: the informal repairers who are an important part of South Africa’s reuse, repair and recycling economy. They work in the heart of communities as they interface with the informal waste pickers who recover valuable resources and divert these resources from landfill towards reuse and recycling. Repairers trade with waste collectors for e-waste components to repair electrical and electronic equipment for a growing customer base of those living in townships who find it cheaper to repair than buy new appliances, for example. By investing in the community repair and reuse ecosystem, the potential of scaling up the recovery of e-waste is amplified and the livelihood opportunities of repairers within the informal economy is increased.

Building on WasteAid’s experience of delivering professional training and investing seed funding in ‘wastepreneurs’ in South Africa to scale up waste recovery into the materials value chain, WasteAid has extended its programme to e-waste.

Supported by the Dixon Foundation, a UK charity that nurtures positive change for the planet’s future, WasteAid has developed a programme that facilitates and supports e-waste repair and reuse models, by investing in repair micro-businesses within Diepsloot, a densely populated township in Gauteng. This interception of e-waste into appliance repair models keeps products and materials in use, and is part of a circular approach that is paving the way for a more sustainable future.

The E-Waste Repair and Reuse Programme transferred knowledge on repairing electrical appliances through the business incubation training, with a practical application on electrical circuitry and appliance repair during the programme.

The e-waste training programme curriculum has been designed to include an inclusive overview of the business of e-waste repair with an extensive overview of circular economy principles, as well as the global and local implications of e-waste.

Ten active repairers took part in and completed the programme. Training took place at the Wot-If? Trust e-Hub in Diepsloot township in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was central for all participating repairers to access. It was delivered by four specialised local trainers.

The training programme primarily focused on electrical repair related to small domestic appliances which included larger white goods.

During the practical sessions, a range of domestic appliances were donated for fixing from WasteAid’s network of waste and environmental practitioners. All of which were all fixed during class and included: kettles, urns, slow-cooker, irons, microwaves, fans, monitors, a washing machine and a deep freezer.

Some fixed items were donated back to the community organisations they came from, and some network members who contributed equipment for fixing, donated an amount of money to the repairers to share.

All participants had indicated at the start of the project that they lacked access to specialised tools as they were costly to invest in. To entrench business growth by building capacity, each participating repairer received capital investment in the form of tools needed to ensure the effective turnaround time of repairing items.

The needs analysis at the start of the programme indicated challenges they each face in building trusted relationships with their customers that will lead to an increase in returning customers, and in turn an increase in income.

After the programme, the upskilled repairers said that as micro-businesses they now feel that they will build stronger trusted relationships with their customers as they have solid knowledge of the proper repair standards and safety surrounding the repair of electrical appliances and circuitry.

All ten participating repairers concluded that the training was very useful to them and they were proud to showcase their certification of the programme to their customers and community. They all indicated that the business and financial knowledge and digital marketing aspects added huge value to the running of their businesses.

Through this programme, it became clear to participants that there is further value for business growth in repair by amplifying the inclusion of components from e-waste generated in the community into their repair models.

This has resulted in the repairers engaging with community members, especially the wastepreneurs (reclaimers that went through WasteAid’s Wastepreneur Challenge programmes) to acquire components of electrical and electronic waste that they collect. Repairers will buy these components from them instead of new components for repair and so creating an ecosystem that allows for awareness and exchange.

 Repairer David Chiporore commented; “I used to throw away common parts, now I can use them and get money”.

The feedback indicated that the practical training of the electrical aspects increased their confidence in their skill set to repair and that they appreciated the e-waste overview and breakdown of electronic equipment to understand the value of the extracted minerals, as well as the overall perspective of utilising e-waste components for repair.

The E-Waste Repair and Reuse Programme demonstrated that this approach is scalable, and WasteAid is exploring how to replicate this programme in the province and elsewhere in South Africa.

These programmes focused on e-waste recovery will amplify the usage of discarded e-waste components in communities to accelerate keeping e-waste in the local ecosystem through repair and reuse models.

As this year draws to a close, I am delighted to reflect on what has been a very successful year for WasteAid, delivering our vision of a world without waste where people in need are empowered to recover its value.  Whilst the year has not been without its challenges, I am hugely proud of all that we have delivered.  This has been our biggest year so far for our young and dynamic organisation and we positively impacted the lives of 1,264,730 people in Cameroon, Egypt, Gambia and South Africa.  Our programmes have succeeded in saving 244.20 kt of CO2 emissions through waste being reused or recycled within our programmes – the equivalent of travelling 37 times around the earth’s equator by car!  We have intervened to reduce and recycle plastic, organic and electronic waste.  We couldn’t do this without the support of our friends and donors, and I wish to extend our thanks to all who have been with WasteAId on this journey.

The projects that we delivered this year include the fabulous Circular Economy Network in The Gambia which was funded by the CIWM (Chartered Institute of Wastes Management).  Phase one of this project came to an end in June, but I am delighted that we continue to partner with CIWM for phase 2 which is already enjoying fantastic engagement.  This project is both unique and innovative and is professionalising waste management and supporting circular economy innovation.  In Egypt we have been tackling flexible plastic waste in the Aswan region bringing stakeholders together to create sustainable local solutions funded by Dow Packaging.  In South Africa, we were awarded funding from UKRI (UK Research & Innovation) through WRAP’s (Waste and Resources Action Plan) International Circular Plastic Flagship Projects competition. We undertook an innovative feasibility study developing a circular economy centred and stimulating end-markets locally for recyclable materials.  Early 2023 saw the launch of our partnership with the Norwegian Retailers Environment Fund (NREF) focused on the empowerment of vulnerable communities in Banjul, Gambia to reduce and recycle plastic waste through a local recycling facility.

We also continued our impactful collaboration with long-term partners Bunzl Group Plc, who supported our interventions in both Cameroon and South Africa with the informal sector engaged in waste management – elements included the construction of a plastic recycling facility in Cameroon and practical and financial support to wastepreneurs in the townships of Johannesburg.  Finally, we further developed projects to tackle organic waste in The Gambia and electronic waste in South Africa funded by Partners Group and The Dixon Foundation respectively.

Through these projects we have supported and nurtured entrepreneurs and green businesses in the waste space, as well helping communities to reduce waste pollution.  It has been a busy year, but we are still keen to do so much more, and you know what, we will be doing even more!  I am thrilled to let you know that at the same time as delivering what we have in 2023, the amazing team at WasteAid has been able to develop an innovative and expansive 2024 portfolio which includes starting work in two additional countries.  We are set to grow a phenomenal 70% and will be working with new funders and partners, do stay tuned for announcements in due course!  Without funders such as our proud partners Biffa and their committed staff, ARM, Beyondly, Compass Group, Cromwell Polythene, Helen & Michael Brown and Zumo our ability to develop such innovative and impactful responses to the waste crisis would be significantly curtailed.  Thank you again for your support it is as a direct result of this that WasteAid is set to reach even greater heights in 2024.

I would like to also thank our individual supporters, whether sharing or liking our social media or contributing to our fundraising campaigns, thank you.  Times are tough and this support is enormously appreciated.   Equally, we hugely appreciate the support from members of the Foodservice Packaging Association, attendees of the National Recycling Awards and individual members of CIWM.

I am sure you have seen that we have recently launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to help us raise £1 million by the end of 2025 which will be WasteAid’s tenth anniversary.  This is to ensure the sustainability of our vital organisation and to allow us to continue to do even more.  Any ideas or suggestions as to how you could help us achieve this target would be gratefully received.  If you would like to get involved, please get in touch.  We are already off to a great start even in just the first month and we will be sharing updates in 2024.

It now only remains for me to wish you all a very happy holiday season and to offer my very best wishes to you for 2024.

Ceris Turner-Bailes

CEO, WasteAid