The Environmental Disaster that is Fuelled by Used Clothes and Fast Fashion | Foreign Correspondent

The darkish aspect of the world’s style dependancy. A lot of our previous garments, donated
to charities, find yourself in rotting textile mountains in West Africa. This is a narrative
about how our waste is creating an environmental catastrophe.

Have you ever ever considered what occurs to your previous garments after you drop them off on the
op store? It is perhaps time to begin, as a result of these goodwill gestures are serving to to gas an environmental disaster on the opposite aspect of the world.

When charities in Australia can’t promote donated clothes, tonnes of it finally ends up being exported to
international locations like Ghana, in West Africa. Ship after ship docks each week with bales from Europe,
the US, China and Australia.

They name them ‘Lifeless White Man’s Clothes’. As soon as they arrive in Ghana, they’re taken to the
bustling Kantamanto markets within the capital Accra and from right here, they make their solution to
villages and cities throughout the nation.

The business offers jobs for hundreds of individuals, like Asare Asamoah, a profitable importer.
He brings in garments, primarily from the UK, and in the event that they’re good high quality, he could make
a good residing.

But it surely’s dangerous enterprise. He has to pay upfront for a bale and by no means is aware of whether or not it’s trash or
treasure. With low cost, quick style flooding the world, the standard of the garments arriving in
Ghana is getting worse and worse.

‘Typically you’ve gone and purchased one thing, you then don’t get what you need’, says
Asamoah. ‘Then you definitely lose your cash.”

And there’s a darkish aspect to this business.

Correspondent Linton Besser travels to Ghana to uncover the soiled secret behind the world’s
style dependancy.

Whereas 60 per cent of imported style gadgets are reused and resold, 40 per cent are garbage,
creating an environmental disaster for this poor nation.

With the primary dumpsite for textile waste now full, unregulated dumpsites ring the town. These
fetid garments mountains are sometimes set on hearth, filling the skies with acrid smoke.

‘It is completely a disservice to us on this a part of the world as a result of now we have turn out to be form of the
dumping floor for the textile waste that is produced from Europe, from the Americas”, says
Accra’s waste supervisor, Solomon Noi.

Emmanuel Ajaab imports used garments from Australia however he despairs on the poor high quality of the
garments that arrive. From a bale of about 200 clothes, he finds solely seven he can resell at a
good worth.

“In Europe and UK and Australia, America, they assume Africa right here, sorry to say, we’re not like a
human being”, he tells Foreign Correspondent.

The dumped textiles additionally get swept up within the monsoonal rains and find yourself choking the town’s
waterways and seashores, posing a hazard to fishermen and aquatic life. Liz Ricketts, who runs
an NGO campaigning for consciousness of Ghana’s textile waste disaster, lays the blame on the ft
of worldwide style homes.

“Waste is part of the enterprise mannequin of style. A variety of manufacturers overproduce by as much as 40 per
cent”, says Ricketts.

Noi begs the individuals who donate their garments to assume twice about the place they find yourself.

“If they arrive right here, such as you’ve come, and you see the practicality for your self, then they may
know that, no, we higher maintain these items inside our nation and to not ship that
downside to trigger issues to different folks.”

About Foreign Correspondent:
Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time worldwide public affairs program on Australia’s nationwide broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour length in-depth experiences for broadcast throughout the ABC’s tv channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our groups have journeyed to greater than 170 international locations to report on conflict, pure calamity and social and political upheaval – by means of the eyes of the folks on the coronary heart of all of it.

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