Dead white man’s clothes: How fast fashion is turning parts of Ghana into toxic landfill (ABC News) – For decades, the West’s unwanted fashion has made its way to used-clothing markets in Africa. Now it’s fuelling an environmental catastrophe.
It’s the dirty secret behind the world’s fashion addiction. Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill, creating an environmental catastrophe on the other side of the world.
…Some 15 million used garments pour into Accra every week from the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, flooding the city’s sprawling clothing market. An estimated 40 per cent are of such poor quality they are deemed worthless on arrival and end up dumped in landfill. As global clothing consumption skyrockets, fed by ruthless “fast fashion” brands, it’s creating an environmental catastrophe.
…The trade in second-hand clothing has steadily grown in Accra, just as it has around the world. Every year as many as 4 million tonnes of used textiles are shipped across the planet in a trade estimated to be worth $4.6 billion.
…”In Europe, the UK and Australia, America, they think [that in] Africa here, sorry to say, we are not like human beings. Even if somebody knocked [on] your door [to beg], you cannot just … pick something from your dustbin. In this case … they’re doing this to us.”
The growing number of poor-quality clothes arriving at Kantamanto Market is a major driver of Ghana’s waste crisis. Another is the sheer volume of clothing being manufactured around the world.
Since 2000, global production of clothing has doubled. We’re buying 60 per cent more clothes now than we did 15 years ago. But we’re only keeping them for half as long. A major survey in the UK six years ago found one in three young women considered garments “old” if they had been worn just twice. An estimated 85 per cent of all textiles go to the dump every year, according to the World Economic Forum, enough to fill Sydney Harbour annually. Globally, that’s the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles being burned or going into landfill every second.
These problems have only accelerated with the advent of so-called “fast fashion” — cheap, low-quality clothes produced quickly to respond to changing trends. Where brands once had two fashion seasons a year, many now produce 52 micro-seasons, flooding the market with new styles.
…With factories incentivised to maintain around-the-clock operations, the world’s major fashion houses factor into their budgets huge waste margins. In 2018, Burberry attracted a storm of criticism when it revealed it had destroyed $50 million of stock. The same year, H&M reported an unsold global inventory worth more than $5 billion.
…”Close to 40 per cent of whatever shipments that are coming on a daily basis ends up to be complete chaff of no value,” said Accra’s waste manager, Solomon Noi. “We have become the dumping ground for textile waste that is produced from Europe, from the Americas and [elsewhere].”