The emerging EV industry should be circular by design

July 22, 2026

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Everyone needs a break from time to time! We'll be taking a short break and will be back later this month. Thank you for reading us. We look forward to bringing you more news, data and analysis when we return.

Mercy Maina – Editor

Africa's EV manufacturing industry is gathering pace, with three recent electric mobility projects set to add more than 50,000 vehicles in annual production capacity. Chinese automaker Chery's decision to manufacture EVs and plug-in hybrids in South Africa adds momentum and highlights an opportunity to embed circular economy principles early. 

  • As EV manufacturing expands, decisions made now will determine whether Africa builds a resource-efficient automotive industry or incurs the higher costs of retrofitting circularity later. 

  • Embedding circularity into emerging EV value chains could transform vehicle manufacturing into a broader industrial ecosystem by creating new commercial opportunities alongside vehicle production. 

  • Our take: Long-term competitiveness is likely to depend on the value African countries retain across the EV lifecycle.… Read more (2 min)

As Africa advances its circular economy ambitions, Sidikat Folami of Mateen Lander is concerned by the growing tendency to treat recycling as the first solution to waste, rather than the final stage of a circular system. She argues that successful circular systems preserve value by prioritising reuse, repair and upcycling before recycling becomes necessary.

  • Ms Folami is the founder and CEO of Mateen Lander, a Nigeria-based textile waste solutions company. A textile waste and systems management specialist, she also runs The Textile Circularist, a LinkedIn community that shares insights on textile circularity, waste management and value preservation. 

  • "The success of a circular system is no longer measured by how much it recycles, it is measured by how long it prevents recycling from becoming necessary,” she says.

  • Read the full opinion article here (2 min)

Policy tracker: New frameworks in Q2 focus on implementation

Circular Rising spotted three new circular economy policy developments between March and June 2026. Introduced across West and Central Africa, the measures place greater emphasis on implementation through regulation, market interventions and sector-specific roadmaps, designed to operationalise circular economy ambitions.

  • The policies expand circular economy action beyond waste management, incorporating industrial development, sustainable materials and stronger regulatory oversight. 

  • All three measures increase private sector responsibilities, requiring businesses to comply with new regulations, adopt sustainable alternatives and participate more actively in circular value chains. 

  • Our take: The new compliance obligations create opportunities for businesses providing circular economy solutions…Read more (2 min)

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Source: The Arab Contractors

Bahr El-Baqar Wastewater Treatment Plant in Egypt

Events

🤝 Participate in SA’s CE & Economic Transformation Conference (Aug 21)

📦 Sign up for the 6th Africa International E-Waste Conference in Kenya (Oct 15)

🪪 Network at WasteCon 2026 in South Africa (Oct 20)

Jobs

🧕 Support IT services at Suez (Morocco)

🧑‍💼 Manage environmental and energy programmes at Orant Charities (Malawi)

👷 Oversee regional logistics at Interwaste (South Africa)

🧕 Advise on sustainable infrastructure including waste at IFC (Senegal)

🧑‍💼 Consult on waste as an alternative source of fuel at SI (Sudan, Chad)

👷 Evaluate the relevance of a circular economy project at FCA (Kenya)

Various 

❓ How to close the circular economy funding gap

🌽 Circular farming is turning market waste into agribusiness gold

💰 Sahara Group Foundation unveils waste-to-cash recycling hubs in Nigeria

♻️ Smart recycling systems are a multi-billion industry

Seen on LinkedIn 

Shamkant Mirashi, a sustainability consultant, says, “We often say that the circular economy is about keeping materials in use for as long as possible. Perhaps it is also time to keep capital circulating in the same direction. Sustainability innovations rarely fail because of a lack of ideas; more often, they struggle because the financial ecosystem has not evolved at the same pace.”