Waste-to-value and circular manufacturing command interest, but capital closes only when the fundamentals are proven. Committees ask three simple questions. Is feedstock predictable. Do conversion economics hold through real operations. Will buyers take product at quality and price that stand up in a soft quarter. An investment case that answers these with evidence, not slogans, will clear.
The feedstock story starts with credible inflow. Lenders want to see volumes, composition and contamination rates backed by contracts or municipal frameworks that actually work. Where supply is municipal, the project should show a dated agreement, a clear service area, a tipping fee and real enforcement on delivery obligations. If the source is commercial or industrial, list the contributing operators, their volumes and the terms under which they supply. Monthly weighbridge logs, skip counts, route maps and seasonality patterns are better than any promise. If informal suppliers are part of the chain, the case must explain how payments are made, how quality is controlled and how disputes are handled. Feedstock that arrives on time and to specification lowers price.
Conversion economics are next. Investors read for measured yields, energy use and availability. They expect a short operating history on pilot or early trains, with hourly logs that show how input variability affects output and cost. The maintenance plan needs to be visible, with spares on site for high risk components, clear service intervals and named responsibilities. If the process depends on imported enzymes, catalysts or liners, the plan must show supply times, buffer stock and price steps. Downtime assumptions should match what the maintenance plan can deliver, not what the vendor brochure suggests. Where technology risk is present, a performance guarantee from a creditworthy counterparty moves the dial.
Offtake quality decides cash. The pack must separate interest from commitment. Frameworks, trials and letters of intent are useful but do not pay debt service. Firm contracts with standards, volumes, pricing logic and remedies do. If buyers are domestic manufacturers, include specifications, acceptance test results and returns data. If output is energy, show the power purchase agreement, grid connection status, curtailment rules and the path to revenue when the grid is weak. If the product is a secondary raw material such as recycled polymer, fibre or aggregates, present real tests of product consistency, unit pricing and delivery terms. Buy side balance sheets matter. A buyer who cannot pay on time is not a buyer.
Policy and permits reduce friction. Projects that rely on extended producer responsibility rules or landfill pricing must show the regulation in force, the phase timetable and how enforcement is applied in practice. Environmental and siting approvals should be on file, with conditions and mitigation cost quantified. If public land or a municipal franchise is involved, tenure length and step in rights must be explicit. Committees prefer transactions that can operate within current rules rather than those that depend on a future decree.
ESG is part of price only when it is measured. Set a small number of indicators that are material to the project and can be verified without heavy overheads. Diversion from landfill, energy and water savings, emissions avoided, jobs and safety, local sourcing and training are common examples. State the baseline, the method of measurement and the frequency, and show who signs off internally. Where there is a credible carbon or similar revenue stream, explain the methodology and the readiness to verify. Place a one page dashboard in the annex and keep it consistent across reporting periods. Impact that reads like operations helps the credit. Claims without data do not.
The funding design should match the way cash moves. Many circular projects benefit from a small concessional layer that rewards verified diversion or efficiency steps, while the senior piece remains disciplined on covenants and service. Reserves linked to inventory and receivables can smooth the first quarters. Where input or output prices move with currency, the currency mix of funding must have a clear logic. Amortisation should begin only after product quality and buyer settlements are proven for a sustained period.
The data room should allow a risk officer to test the story in a morning. Include weighbridge records, contamination audits, pilot logs, utility bills, downtime reports, maintenance records, permits, environmental studies, major supply and offtake contracts, tax filings and bank statements. A short reconciliation from these documents to the financial model builds trust. Version control and document naming sound like hygiene, but they are read as governance.
There are common red flags. Feedstock contracts that depend on political promises rather than enforceable terms. Yields that assume perfect sorting in markets where sorting is new. Energy assumptions that ignore real grid conditions. Offtake priced at a premium to virgin material with no evidence that buyers will pay the premium at scale. Models that carry impact revenue which is not yet certified. Each raises spread or blocks progress. Replace them with verifiable supply, conservative yields, realistic energy costs, tested buyers and measured impact.
Circular economy finance is not charity. It is capital that seeks projects which turn waste into product with predictable flows, honest costs and disciplined management. The projects that close in Ghana and the region do three things well. They lock feedstock with enforceable delivery and clear quality control. They run a process that can be maintained in country with known inputs and reasonable downtime. They sell to buyers who value the product and can pay on time. Set that foundation, measure what matters, and keep the file aligned. Impact and price will follow.
