What was once a mounting environmental burden at Kantamanto Market is steadily becoming the foundation of a circular manufacturing model in Accra.
For years, unsellable second-hand clothing — torn, stained or outmoded garments imported largely from Europe and North America — piled up in drains, landfills and along beaches. Today, a growing portion of that textile waste is being transformed into durable composite boards for construction and interior design.
At its Material Technology and Transformation Lab (MTTL) in Accra, The Or Foundation is converting discarded cotton and mixed-fibre fabrics from the market into multipurpose boards used in homes, offices, conference rooms and public buildings. Some of the boards function as acoustic panels, improving sound clarity and reducing noise in churches, recording studios and auditoriums. Others are repurposed into speakers and clothing hangers.
Turning Waste into Building Material
The process begins back at Kantamanto, where traders separate blended fabrics, prioritising materials with higher cotton content. At the MTTL facility, workers sort the textiles by colour and fibre type — a step that eliminates the need for chemical dyes later in production.
“It’s slow work, but important,” says Wahida Muah Doho, explaining that improper fabric combinations can compromise the strength of the final product.
After sorting, the fabrics are shredded using machinery designed and built in-house by the MTTL team, largely from recycled components sourced at Accra’s Galloway metal market. The shredded fibres are then granulated and combined with a cassava-based adhesive produced locally from cassava starch.
The glue is formulated with organic additives to improve fire resistance, deter pests and mould, and optimise viscosity. The resulting fibre-and-adhesive mixture is moulded by hand, levelled with wooden rolling pins and dehydrated into rigid sheets.
“What emerges bears no trace of its previous life as clothing,” says Henry Sackey, Production Manager at MTTL. “Each board represents kilos of textile waste diverted from landfills and waterways.”
Jobs and Skills Beyond the Market
Beyond environmental impact, the initiative is creating economic alternatives for vulnerable women. Many workers are recruited through the Foundation’s Mabilgu programme, which supports young women transitioning away from head porterage — locally known as “Kayayie” — in Accra’s markets.
Participants receive training in machine operation, quality control and production supervision. Some are being groomed as team leaders, strengthening their long-term prospects in manufacturing and environmental innovation.
According to Mr Sackey, the model has strong potential for expansion. “With sustainable funding and increased demand, we can upscale this and ensure that the waste is redirected and repurposed,” he says.
In a city long challenged by the environmental cost of global fast fashion, the transformation of textile waste into construction-grade materials signals a shift — from disposal to design, and from informal survival work to structured green employment.
