Demystifying ‘This is where your donated clothes end up: the Nairobi River’

Second hand clothing in Kenya is a large and sprawling business. It is known locally as ‘mitumba’ and such trade, while mostly informal in the streets, contributes approximately Ksh 12 billion in tax revenue in the form of import duties on clothing-laden containers? annually.

In my previous article, I explored the preconceived notions surrounding the economics and regulations of the second-hand clothing trade. I concluded that it does not make any economic sense to import used clothes into the country,? given the high import duties: a 40-foot container has to pay up to Ksh 1.5 - Ksh 2 million when imported, which is estimated 35% of the custom value or US $0.20 per kilogram, whichever is higher.? (The Kenyan Wall Street: Kenya's Second-hand Clothes Import Contributes up to Ksh 12 Billion in Annual Taxes. Money254: KRA Clarifies Tax Policy on Mitumba Imports). Furthermore, there are various quality controls and regulations put in place from the exporting perspective and from the importer's side. The high costs in duty and taxes help to ensure quality compliance as importer and trader would otherwise lose money. It is not in the interest of importers to import second-hand clothes that cannot be sold given the costs of clothes, transportation, shipping, importation, and so on.

Seeing the claim that textiles littering the environment prompted me to investigate further.? What is happening in this market, afterall???

A considerable amount of? second hand clothes imported into Kenya comes from donations made by individuals, charitable institutions, and organizations abroad. Origins include China, EU, UK, and the United States. The clothes are then collected by wholesalers or organizations, who then sort and package them for export.

What happens at the sorting facilities abroad before the clothes enter Kenya?

On average , European and EMEA facilities employ 200-500 sorters who inspect each piece of clothing and categorize it into 400 categories. After careful examination the composition of the material received are the following:?

• 70% can be reused:? The clothes are sorted into 400 products such as seasonal clothing for adults (women’s sweaters, women’s denim, etc), children’s shoes, accessories, household textile. The clothes are also further sorted into various grades.
• 5% repaired to enhance reusability: The items that can be repaired or have slight stains are washed which are then sold directly to retail shops or international customers.
• 20% clothes are recycled: Clothes that have stains that cannot be removed, torn items but made out of material that are recyclable. Oftentimes sold to recyclers in India for further sorting and recycling.?
• 5-10% constitutes waste: Clothes that are considered as waste are contaminated with oil or paint. Items that are excessively damaged items and made of material that are non-recyclable such as shoes also constitute waste. The waste is then incinerated for energy production locally (Waste to Energy).

Only the clothes that are reused are sent to Kenya, specifically with the majority being Grade B/Grade Once it is sorted, before packing there are various inspections and quality standard checks. This is from both the importer (buyers) and from the authorities where there is a dedicated authentication process by traveling to the supplier and randomly selecting bales from the total inventory for inspections. In order to protect the clothing from being damaged and stained, the supplier compacts the clothes into a bale and package with polybags. The bales/polybags are clearly labeled in line with the standards of the country of import.?

Once it lands in Kenya, how does second hand clothing get to the retailers?

The container finally arrives at the port of Mombasa, Kenya. Mombasa is the key entry and exit point for cargo belonging to Kenya and East Africa, including shipments to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Once it clears customs, the importer takes the consignment to their own warehouse to store, to organize, and to prepare the clothing to be sold to wholesalers and retailers. For inventory management and ease of locating the bales, the bales are organized and stacked based on type, demographic target, season, and style. The warehouse also serves as a showroom for wholesalers and retailers to visit. The buyers are provided with the inventory items, where they can then select the bales and examine for their retail stores. The walk-in clients can arrange for immediate pickup on the spot, or coordinate delivery at their convenience.

The wholesale shops are spread across the country, often in close proximity to second-hand markets. Gikomba, Nairobi’s most famous second-hand clothing market, spans 16 acres. Currently, it hosts over 65,000 traders offering mitumba (second-hand clothes), furniture, timber, fabric, shoes, home goods, and more. Gikomba retailers purchase the bales from wholesalers, typically the retailers specialize on specific categories to sell. An example, you will find a retailer that only sells women’s pants. Once the retailer buys the bale, the bales are opened to be categorized for displaying in the open market, physical store, or online platforms (such as instagram and whatsapp).

Are there unsold inventory from the retailers? What happens to them?

The second-hand clothing industry in Kenya supports over 2 million people. The quality of bales are not always perfect, due to variability in sorting quality done manually at the sorting centers abroad. According to Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya’s most recent report, it is estimated around 2% which is 4-12 SHC pieces out of 350 SHC pieces end up as actual waste or occasionally not suitable for the intended market. Of the different quality grades of clothing that were sold to the customers, estimated 2% of products also become unsold goods?

Traders and tailors, known for their business acumen and price sensitivity, find value in offcuts. High cotton material scraps, known for their absorbency, are repurposed for oil rags. The rest are repurposed into cushion stuffing, or even used as fuel for fires. The propensity of textiles to easily catch and sustain a flame makes them a cost-effective alternative to firewood or charcoal for traders.

How does textile waste end up on the river of Gikomba?

The Gikomba market is organized into sections, each featuring different traders. Like other open-aired markets, Gikomba struggles with waste management. Its waste collection system mirrors that of informal settlement. Positioned uniquely by the Nairobi River, waste from the market, including food waste, plastic, furniture scraps, and textile scrap, often end up along the river bank.

The informal tailoring sector is particularly vibrant in the Gikomba market, where tailors create new garments, offer tailoring services, and redesign clothes, with many located near the river. There are two primary categories of textile waste from the market: the majority from offcuts from new clothes or second hand clothing, and a smaller portion from unsold textile clothing.?

According to the UN Habitat’s analysis the volume generated per day in Nairobi totaling over 3,000 tons per day, with only 2.5% composition of rubber, leather, and textile combined. The data combines both households, commercial properties, markets, and factories.?

What are the available solutions for textile waste?

There are four options globally for the treatment of textile waste: Recycle, Reuse, Downcycle, and Landfill/incineration. In Kenya, the consumer behaviors toward clothing is to continue for reuse as many times as possible. The clothes are often repatched, fixed, or tailored to prolong the life cycle. From the environmental standpoint, this is the best approach since study revealed 3kg of CO2 is saved for each clothing that is reused ( EuRIC - The European Recycling Industries: Clothing Reuse has 70 Times Lower Environmental Impact).

Currently in Kenya there are limited solutions to textile waste whether it is from post- industrial, post-consumer, or from tailors. The market for textile recycling is yet established, unlike Panipat India, one of the world's biggest textile recycling hubs. If we can capture the textile before it is contaminated such as those by the river, there are possible downcycling solutions but the economic viability needs to be explored.?

• There are two companies currently tackling the textile waste issue in Kenya: with one focusing on upcycling for post consumer clothes, and other focusing on post-industrial cotton rich material which then send abroad for recycling.

Conclusion to demystifying ‘This is where your donated clothes end up - the Nairobi River’: The lack of collection services available and recycling solutions, all waste at times near the open markets are dumped to the side of the river including the off-cuts from tailors are often mistaken in videos as ‘pieces of clothes’ dumped into the environment. As a viewer on social media, we need to discern the facts and carefully examine the supply chain to fully understand the complexity of this industry. This is not to say there isn’t room for improvement and standards to be set for sorting, but definitely cannot jump into the conclusion of ‘EU is exporting textile waste into Kenya’.