A letter from WasteTrade Co-Founder Bevin Tumulty.

Our Launch in Ghana

Over the past few years, WasteTrade has grown into a global digital platform connecting waste-material generators with verified recyclers and end users around the world. Today, I’m pleased to announce a milestone that brings our mission firmly into West Africa: WasteTrade Ghana is now officially launched, following the receipt of our EPA export permit in September 2025 . For the first time, our digital compliance and traceability system is fully embedded within a country’s circular-economy infrastructure. From our new base in Accra, supported by on-the-ground coordination in Tema Port, we can now manage verified, Basel-compliant exports of plastics and rubber directly from Ghana’s recyclers to international buyers. This is more than an expansion. It is the start of a data-driven circular-trade network for West Africa – one built on transparency, quality assurance, and opportunity. From our new base in Ghana, we’re linking the circular potential of West Africa’s recyclers to verified end users worldwide.

Why Tema Matters

Tema Port sits at the heart of West Africa’s logistics system. It connects Ghana not only to Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS) markets, but to direct Maersk shipping routes into Europe and the Middle East. For circular-trade infrastructure, there is no location more strategic.

Our launch in Ghana allows us to activate a reverse-shipping model that has been several years in development. Containers arrive in Tema full of imported goods. Instead of returning empty, they now leave carrying verified plastic granules, flakes, regrind, and tyre-derived rubber feedstock from EPA-permitted facilities across Ghana. The impact is immediate: fewer empty containers, lower logistics emissions, reduced freight costs, and a cleaner chain of custody aligned with green-list movement codes.

Every container exported through WasteTrade Ghana is fully traceable. Each shipment is backed by site audits, EPA authorisations, and digital verification stored within the WasteTrade platform. Buyers in Europe and the Middle East know exactly where the material originated, how it was processed, and how it meets their compliance requirements.

Tema allows us to close the loop. What comes into Ghana as products can now leave as verified, recycled material – delivered through a system that supports both Ghanaian industry and global sustainability commitments.

Building Our Operational Base

Our Accra office at 33 Bolgatanga Close has been operational since mid-2025 and now serves as the coordination centre for all circular-trade activities across Ghana. The local team manages supplier onboarding, compliance checks, logistics coordination, and digital verification for every shipment that leaves Tema.

All supplier data flows directly into our Salesforce CRM, where EPA permits, site-visit records, audit photographs, and testing data are linked to individual export movements. By combining physical audits with digital records, we ensure transparency from the point of collection to the point of import.

We have established early partnerships with organisations that are shaping Ghana’s sustainability landscape:

  • EPA Ghana, supporting export authorisations and site compliance
  • GIZ Ghana, delivering youth training and capacity-building in waste management
  • GIPC, enabling sustainable foreign investment and circular-trade infrastructure

Early successes already demonstrate the strength of this foundation. Verified exports of PET, HDPE, LDPE film, PP big bags, and tyre crumb have left Tema for end users in Europe – each shipment backed by the same robust compliance framework used across the wider WasteTrade platform.

Jobs, Skills, and Youth Development

Building a circular-trade ecosystem requires people, not just systems. Our commitment is to create sustainable employment and long-term skills development in Ghana.

Our target is to have 50 full-time Ghanaian employees by the end of 2026, across compliance, logistics, testing, data management, and trainee roles. These roles are designed to put Ghanaian professionals at the centre of every export that moves through Tema.

To support this, we have launched WasteTrade Academy Ghana. This programme provides vocational training in:

  • Plastic sorting, washing, and quality control
  • Tyre recycling and rubber-crumb production
  • Digital compliance systems and export documentation
  • Practical circular-economy skills aligned with export-market expectations

Through our collaboration with GIZ Ghana, all training follows internationally recognised sustainability standards, ensuring that young Ghanaians can build long-term careers in a high-growth industry.

We’re not just hiring – we’re building the next generation of circular-economy professionals in Ghana.

The Accra Testing & Circularity Hub

Verification is the foundation of circular trade. To strengthen this, we are establishing the WasteTrade Material Testing & Circularity Hub in Accra, in partnership with GIZ Ghana. The Hub will test, verify, and grade plastics and rubber before they enter international supply chains.

This facility will conduct:

  • Polymer melt-flow index testing
  • Contamination analysis (including PVC detection in PET)
  • Moisture and density checks
  • Tyre-crumb and rubber-regrind characterisation
  • Certification for export under Basel-compliant codes

All testing data will integrate directly into the WasteTrade platform. Each buyer will receive a fully verified digital profile of every shipment, including laboratory results, supplier credentials, photos, and transport documentation. This gives Ghana’s recyclers a competitive edge: material is certified domestically before it even reaches the port, increasing both quality and value.

Circularity begins with verification – and by testing materials locally, we increase Ghana’s value capture before the material even leaves the country.

Ghana 2026 Scorecard

Our targets for Q4 2026 reflect the scale of our ambition and the practical outcomes we are building towards:

These targets represent the foundation of a self-sustaining circular-trade network – one that provides transparent, high-quality secondary raw materials to global markets while building capacity and opportunity within Ghana.

Early Success Stories

The progress we’ve already seen gives me confidence in what Ghana can achieve.

One of Accra’s leading PET recyclers has completed its first verified green-list export to an EU converter using Maersk reverse shipping. The shipment moved seamlessly through the WasteTrade compliance pipeline – site audit, Hub testing, EPA approval, digital verification, export clearance, and arrival with the buyer.

A rubber processor in Tema, specialising in tyre-crumb production, has now been approved for export under the appropriate Basel codes. This is a strong signal to international buyers that Ghana can provide consistent, contamination-controlled rubber feedstock.

And a local haulier, recently verified through our compliance module, has begun handling regular movements between recycling facilities and the port – demonstrating how WasteTrade supports the whole value chain, not just exporters.

These first shipments prove that Ghana can meet EU standards for quality and compliance – and WasteTrade is the bridge that makes it possible.

Looking Ahead

WasteTrade Ghana is only the beginning. Tema will evolve into the regional base for WasteTrade West Africa, supporting exporters in Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Nigeria, and creating a cross-border network of verified recyclers and compliant export routes.

With the backing of GIZ Ghana and GIPC, we will continue to expand testing capacity, traceability infrastructure, and youth-training programmes – ensuring that Ghana becomes a leader in circular-economy skills and data-driven material verification.

By 2027, Ghana will not simply export recyclables. It will export verified, value-added secondary raw materials, backed by digital proof of quality, compliance, and origin.

Our goal is to make Ghana synonymous with circular trade – where plastic and rubber waste become raw materials for a global industry built on compliance, transparency, and opportunity.