How Estonia is helping reduce textile waste in Kenya
The Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), in collaboration with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Tallinn Center and local partners, has launched a project to establish a circular design center in Kenyan capital Nairobi.
An estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated worldwide each year, around of which is from used clothing and about a third of which comes from various manufacturing processes.
As the possibilities for recycling textiles are limited, it is crucial to reduce the amount of textile waste generated worldwide.
The new center contributes to the development of a sustainable fashion industry in Kenya by mapping and valorizing industrial textile waste as well as incorporating those materials into the training programs for local designers and students.
Reet Aus, senior researcher and designer at EKA, explained on that the goal is to bring knowledge from EKA's Sustainable Design and Materials Laboratory to Kenya.
"The initial idea was to give birth to a little daughter of our laboratory over there," Aus said. "The exercise we have done with them is about how to recycle these residual materials in the conditions they have and how to create new products through design."
Aus added. However, that this solution cannot be applied on a very large scale.
"We have now reached the point where we are starting to train designers, and this will also be included in the curriculum. It is also an important element of design skills to be able to see this as input material from which you can design things. It's a different process," she explained.
Margaret Nashipae Manele, a fashion design and marketing student at Kenyatta University in Nairobi confirmed that in the curriculum a lot of attention is being paid to sustainability.
"The teachers always ask us what is sustainable about our ideas. We always have to think about sustainability during the creative process. It is instilled in us that sustainability is fundamental to everything we do," Manele said.
Jacqueline Kisato, lecturer and head of the fashion design and marketing department at Kenyatta University, said that sustainability has become a key word throughout the fashion industry because so much waste is generated.
"Students now pay more attention to the amount of material they use and how to cut it so that it is more sustainable. They also think about how to reuse materials or make new products from waste. Students are very keen to ensure that their products are environmentally friendly and also appeal to customers," Kisato said.
The main idea behind the joint research project is that products reaching the market ought to have been created in a sustainable manner.
The project is funded by the Estonian Center for International Development (ESTDEV), whose broader goal in Kenya is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals.
Olga Bogdanova, ESTDEV's regional adviser for Africa, said the organization considers it important to contribute in this way, as sustainability is a pressing issue both in Estonia and elsewhere in the world and is of great concern to many people.
"We look at where there is a need and where Estonia can offer the best knowledge, experience and skills. We have strategically selected areas and countries with which we cooperate and identify their problems," Bogdanova said.
Reet Aus added that the problem of textile waste also has to be addressed in distant Africa, because there is only one planet Earth.
"Starting this year, we will also collect our textile waste and used clothing in Estonia. As embarrassing as it may be, we currently have no use for it. This is another area where the state has not invested enough in innovation. Not enough research has been done, different technologies have not been developed, and Estonia has zero capacity to recycle these things. But this is not just a problem in Estonia, it is a problem all over the world," Aus said.
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Editor: Sandra Saar, Michael Cole
