The Head of Investigations of GreenPeace Africa, Mr. Sam Quashie-Idun, says up to 60 percent of the used clothing found in ‘fose’ bales were completely unsellable and regarded as garbage.
Also, around 7.5 million articles of those old clothing, are received at Kantamanto Market each week, with half of the items being of low quality and made of synthetic fibers.
According to Mr. Quashie-Idun, these second-hand used clothes end up in open spaces, informal settlements, and garbage dumps throughout the city each week.
“We tracked the disposal of clothes discarded by stallholders at Kantamanto Market and found that most end up in informal dumps, while a significant portion is collected and burned as fuel for boiling water in public washhouses, especially in Old Fadama,” he said.
Mr. Quashie-Idun said that bathhouses and indoor air contained high levels of hazardous substances, including carcinogens like benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, with benzene levels far above European indoor air safety standards.
He said an infrared examination of clothing from Kantamanto Market and informal garbage sites revealed that 89% included synthetic fibers manufactured from fossil fuels, which was a significant issue.
“Our people, our rivers, our beaches, are choking, and we cannot sit back and continue watching this happen to our country. “It is time to shake things up, redefine collective action and call out this waste colonialism for what it is, one that fails to value and respect the lives of Africans and our environment”, he added.
Project Lead, Pan-African Plastics Project, Madam Hellen Kahaso Dena, also urged the government to ban the import of unusable clothing and textile waste from the Global North.
She said that textile waste often contained harmful chemicals that polluted the environment and that if imported textile waste was not effectively managed, it could lead to soil and water contamination and harm ecosystems and public health.
Madam Dena said that Ghana should promote the development of sustainable textile industries by embracing, supporting, and emphasizing local fashion issues, which would be critical in lessening the country’s preference for Western fashion.
She said Ghana was drowning in fast fashion waste, with children drinking, eating, and breathing microplastics. She stated that the trade in used clothing usually involved smuggling and illegal, making it difficult to trace the origin of the articles; as a result, Africa had become a dumping ground for Europe’s unwanted textiles.
“To avoid the extra regulations associated with waste exports, textile waste is often misclassified or labelled as used clothes when in the real sense, it is actually trash that cannot be used,” she added.
Madam Dena condemned the many imported bales of used garments that were unusable and requested the government to enact laws to ensure that only resellable and useful items were imported.
She urged the government to implement the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’ to environmental and health damage and to adopt systems in the Global North that recognized and mitigated risks associated with the international trade of used clothing.
“We want them to push the Global North for international legislation to be established through a global treaty, such as the one that is being discussed right now on plastic pollution.”
Meanwhile, some enterprising youth have found ways to reduce the waste generated from these used clothes. They recycle them into remade dresses and create a platform called the Vintage Gala where these remade clothes are sold to the public at very decent prices.
Two such events have been held this year and a third is scheduled to take place before the end of the year.
