Ghana is working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to set up a Circular Economy Innovation and Textile Testing Centre that will help reduce textile waste while strengthening industrial development in the country.

The planned centre is part of a UNIDO project funded by Italy and implemented in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry. The project, called Promoting Business and Technology Development in Ghana’s Circular Textile Sector, is being carried out by UNIDO’s Italian Investment and Technology Promotion Office with financial support from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

UNIDO explained that the centre will offer testing facilities, quality checks and technical support for textile sorting and classification. It will also help identify harmful materials and enable used textiles to be reused in new industrial applications. These recovered materials could be turned into products such as furniture, insulation boards, car components, paper and agricultural materials, helping Ghana move from textile waste disposal to value-added recycling.