ACCRA, Ghana (AP) 鈥� In a sprawling secondhand clothing market in Ghana鈥檚 capital, early morning shoppers jostle as they search through piles of garments, eager to pluck a bargain or a designer find from the stalls selling used and low-quality apparel imported from the West.
At the other end of the street, an upcycled fashion and thrifting festival unfolds with glamour and glitz. Models parade along a makeshift in outfits that out of discarded materials from the Kantamanto market, ranging from floral blouses and denim jeans to leather bags, caps and socks.
The festival is called Obroni Wawu October, using a phrase that in the local Akan language means 鈥渄ead white man鈥檚 clothes.鈥� Organizers see the event as a small way to disrupt a destructive cycle that has made Western overconsumption into an in Africa, where some of the worn-out clothes end up in waterways and garbage dumps.
鈥淚nstead of allowing (textile waste) to choke our gutters or beaches or landfills, I decided to use it to create something ... for us to use again,鈥� said Richard Asante Palmer, one of the designers at the annual festival organized by the Or Foundation, a nonprofit that works at the intersection of environmental justice and fashion development.
Ghana is one of Africa's leading importers of used clothing. It also ships some of what it gets from the United Kingdom, Canada, and elsewhere to other West African nations, the United States and the U.K., according to the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association.
Some of the imported clothes arrive in such poor shape, however, that vendors dispose of them to make room for the next shipments. On average, 40% of the millions of garments exported weekly to Ghana end up as waste, according to Neesha-Ann Longdon, the business manager for the Or Foundation鈥檚 executive director.
The clothing dealers association, in a on the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the nation鈥檚 secondhand clothing trade, cited a much lower estimate, saying only 5% of the items that reach Ghana in bulk are thrown out because they cannot be sold .
In many African countries, citizens typically buy preowned clothes 鈥� as well as used cars, phones and other necessities 鈥� because they cost less than new ones. Secondhand shopping also gives them a chance to score designer goods that most people in the region can only dream of.
But neither Ghana's fast-growing population of 34 million people nor its overtaxed infrastructure is equipped to absorb the amount of cast-off attire entering the country. Mounds of textile waste litter beaches across the capital, Accra, and the lagoon which serves as the main outlet through which the city鈥檚 major drainage channels empty into the Gulf of Guinea.
鈥淔ast fashion has taken over as the dominant mode of production, which is characterized here as higher volumes of lower-quality goods,鈥� Longdon said.
Jonathan Abbey, a fisherman in the area, said his nets often capture textile waste from the sea. Unsold used clothes 鈥渁ren鈥檛 even burned but are thrown into the Korle Lagoon, which then goes into the sea,鈥� Abbey said.
The ease of online shopping has sped up this waste cycle, according to Andrew Brooks, a King鈥檚 College London researcher and the author of 鈥淐lothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes.鈥�
In countries like the U.K., unwanted purchases often end up as charity donations, but clothes are sometimes stolen from street donation bins and exported to places where the consumer demand is perceived to be higher, Brooks said. Authorities rarely investigate such theft because the clothes are "seen as low-value items,鈥� he said.
Donors, meanwhile, think their castoffs are 鈥済oing to be recycled rather than reused, or given away rather than sold, or sold in the U.K. rather than exported overseas,鈥� Brooks said.
The volume of secondhand clothing sent to Africa has led to complaints of the continent being used as a dumping ground. In 2018, on such imports in defiance of U.S. pressure, citing concerns the West's refuse undermined efforts to strengthen the domestic textile industry. Last year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he would of clothing 鈥渇rom dead people.鈥�
Trade restrictions might not go far in either reducing textile pollution or encouraging , where profits are low and incentives for designers are few, experts say.
In the absence of adequate measures to stop the pollution, organizations like the Or Foundation are trying to make a difference by rallying young people and fashion creators to find a good use for scrapped materials.
Ghana's beaches had hardly any discarded clothes on them before the country's waste management problems worsened in recent years, foundation co-founder Allison Bartella said.
鈥淔ast forward to today, 2024, there are mountains of textile waste on the beaches,鈥� she said.
Francis Kokutse, The Associated Press
