The environmental disaster fuelled by used clothes and fast fashion | Foreign Correspondent

00:30:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3kuuBPVys

Summary

TLDRThe video addresses the challenge of secondhand clothing waste in Ghana. A constant flow of used clothes from the West arrives at the coast of West Africa, primarily in Ghana, where they are known as "dead white men's clothes." This trade, dubbed β€˜abrani waawu,’ supports many livelihoods but also causes environmental damage due to the influx of unwearable garments, transforming parts of Accra into a textile landfill. Retailers in the sprawling markets compete fiercely for quality pieces, while importers face financial risks due to the varying quality of their shipments. The waste crisis intensifies as unwanted clothes fill waterways and landfills, often burned, severely impacting the environment. The documentary suggests a reevaluation of how the West handles its clothing waste to alleviate the burden on countries like Ghana.

Takeaways

  • 🚒 Continuous arrival of secondhand clothes in Ghana.
  • πŸ‘— Many clothes are unusable, worsening waste issues.
  • πŸ’Ό Creates jobs but poses environmental challenges.
  • 🏞️ Parts of Ghana become textile waste dumps.
  • 🌍 Used clothing trade spans across Africa.
  • πŸ›οΈ Fierce competition among retailers for quality clothes.
  • πŸ’° Importers face financial risks due to low-quality bales.
  • 🏭 Fast fashion's overproduction contributes to the problem.
  • 🌊 Textile waste clogs waterways, harms aquatic life.
  • 🏚️ Informal textile waste dumps burden communities.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In Ghana, used clothes from Western countries, often in poor condition, are imported in large quantities, creating jobs but also environmental issues as the country becomes a dumping ground for textile waste. Donations, sometimes referred to as 'Pentacles,' significantly impact Ghana's environment.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The second-hand clothing trade in Accra supports many livelihoods but is highly competitive. Retailers like Aisha endure hardship to buy and resell clothes from importers, facing risks like upfront payment and potential losses if goods are unsellable.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Asari Asamoa imports used clothing, making substantial profits when the quality is good, but local textile industries suffer. Western second-hand clothes are cheap, reducing demand for traditional clothing, and substantial garment waste accumulates in landfills.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Clothing waste dramatically impacts Ghana's environment, with Accra dealing with massive waste quantities regularly. Inhabitants like Christiana, who depend on the trade, find it increasingly difficult as the quality of imported clothes declines.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:30:03

    Textile waste severely affects communities, with waste blamed on local populations. However, large fashion brands overproduce, contributing to the crisis, whereas local markets face environmental and social challenges due to poor quality and waste disposal.

Show more

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is Accra's importance in the secondhand clothing trade?

    It's a significant hub for secondhand clothing imports in West Africa.

  • What causes the surplus of clothing leading to waste?

    It is largely blamed on overproduction by fashion brands and reliance on cheap, low-quality fast fashion.

  • How is Accra dealing with the excess textile waste?

    They are overwhelmed with textile waste, leading to unregulated dumps and environmental issues.

  • What is meant by "the clothes of dead white men"?

    It refers to the influx of low-quality clothing from Western countries to Ghana.

  • Why can't local textiles compete with Western imports?

    Western clothing is much cheaper, making it hard for local textiles to compete.

  • What impacts has the import of used clothing had on Ghana?

    The fallout of Western cast-offs has led to significant environmental and waste challenges for Ghana.

  • How risky is it for importers to sell secondhand clothes?

    Many importers can lose money on poor-quality bales despite paying significant upfront costs.

  • How does textile waste impact Ghana's environment?

    It chokes waterways, burdens waste facilities, and fragments clog aquatic environments.

  • What is it like for communities living near informal dumps?

    Residents in regions like Old Fatima live with the pollution and health risks of accumulated textile waste.

  • What typically happens to the leftover unwanted clothes?

    Much is incinerated, contributing to pollution, while only limited recycling or reuse occurs.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:05
    on the coast of West Africa
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    ships arrive day after day with an
  • 00:00:11
    unrelenting Cargo
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    [Music]
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    in Ghana they call them a Brawny wow
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    all the clothes of dead white men dig
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    this beer from Austria yeah the charity
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    Shop cast offs from the Western World
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    too many of them arrive in unwearable
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    condition
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    while the trade in used clothes has
  • 00:00:44
    created thousands of jobs
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    it's also turning parts of Ghana into a
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    toxic landfill it is blizzy serving as a
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    Dumping Ground for textile waste in the
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    name of a secondhand clothing
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    the world's unwanted fashion ends its
  • 00:01:03
    Journey here
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    we call them Pentacles when they first
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    wash up on sea they're very long
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    creating an environmental catastrophe of
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    Unthinkable proportions
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    [Music]
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    [Music]
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    in Accra the working day begins long
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    before Dawn
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    [Music]
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    as thousands of ghanaians make their
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    daily migration into the center of this
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    West African capital
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    from old Fatima accra's biggest slum
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    Aisha idrisu and her 18 month old son
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    Sharif joined the throng working in the
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    second hand clothes trade
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    okay
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    [Music]
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    one of each money yeah
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    [Music]
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    yeah now this one you said they are very
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    young man but watch myself
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    [Music]
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    come on
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    asari asamoa starts his day early too
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    he's a successful importer of used
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    clothing
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    I was follow my brother for us we are
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    doing in the business and unfortunately
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    my brother passed away so he handled
  • 00:03:22
    everything to me or am I always think
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    about him because he made me who I am
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    today new Bales arrive and asari is
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    checking on his order
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    yeah yeah
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    [Music]
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    with quality I hope you get a good one
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    these bails are being dispatched to
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    almost every corner of accra's
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    commercial heart
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    the sprawling cantonmento Market
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    [Music]
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    it's a bustling Labyrinth
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    where almost everything is for sale
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    35.
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    these markets are one of the biggest in
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    West Africa if not the world and they're
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    a central hub for second-hand clothing
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    from here they get shipped all over
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    Africa
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    [Music]
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    for the past two decades the resale of
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    Western cast offs has boomed here it's
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    created tens of thousands of jobs
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    these men and women are retailers eager
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    to seize the best clothes from a prized
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    new Bale and
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    they're old friends but this morning
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    there's lots at stake
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    they're also Arch competitors
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    if they don't grab the best clothes they
  • 00:05:44
    don't make money
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    [Music]
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    foreign
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    on her way to collect a bale of clothes
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    from asari the Importer
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    okay and now we'll follow now
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    right
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    yeah well right so we
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    uh okay all right
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    izakayo or headquarter
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    foreign
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    women are usually displaced from their
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    villages in the north of the country by
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    conflict or unemployment
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    [Music]
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    five dollars a day
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    foreign
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    she's carrying weighs more than 50
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    kilograms it's tough and dangerous work
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    this is
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    Saturday
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    [Music]
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    the trade and used clothing is also
  • 00:08:23
    risky for importers they pay up front as
  • 00:08:27
    much as 95 000 for a container with no
  • 00:08:31
    guarantee if the clothes inside it are
  • 00:08:34
    any good
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    it's not easy sometimes if you don't
  • 00:08:50
    have money to do business this business
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    it's not easy for you sometimes you go
  • 00:08:55
    and buy bought something then you cut
  • 00:08:58
    you'll not get what you want then you
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    lose your money asari Imports as many as
  • 00:09:04
    3 million items of used clothing every
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    year most of it from the United Kingdom
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    foreign
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    Western exporters with good quality
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    clothes profits are there for the taking
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    we're okay
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    so if you know inside that this goose is
  • 00:09:25
    fine that one you are going to buy it
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    then you get your profit if you don't
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    know that this goose is nicer you just
  • 00:09:32
    bought anything then you lose your money
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    asari also sells his newly imported
  • 00:09:37
    items to other retailers in cantonmento
  • 00:09:41
    Market
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    it looks like chaos but there's a method
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    to this madness these retailers are
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    picking the finest clothes that have
  • 00:09:51
    come in from the Bale in order to be
  • 00:09:53
    ready for Market Day
  • 00:09:56
    foreign
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    lives a few hours from the city center
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    in a good year importers can turn over a
  • 00:10:14
    hundred and forty thousand dollars
  • 00:10:19
    so the money I get I don't chop off I
  • 00:10:22
    just save some so I just save it
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    asari asamoa attributes his family's
  • 00:10:28
    success to divine intervention
  • 00:10:32
    and God has blessed what I'm doing and
  • 00:10:35
    God grace living in this house
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    it's very big conflict between Sunday
  • 00:10:42
    and my job the crew time sir that one is
  • 00:10:45
    somebody culture like a white man used
  • 00:10:47
    to wear it when going into office by
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    this one is our own culture
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    now it's Sunday and in this deeply
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    religious country it's a day for
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    traditional clothing
  • 00:11:06
    Western cast offs are so cheap that
  • 00:11:09
    local textile makers can't compete
  • 00:11:12
    since the 1980s their output has fallen
  • 00:11:16
    by as much as 75 percent
  • 00:11:19
    [Music]
  • 00:11:26
    traditional African clothing has now
  • 00:11:29
    become two
  • 00:11:30
    intuitive for everyday wear
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    Hallelujah
  • 00:11:38
    [Music]
  • 00:11:48
    [Applause]
  • 00:11:57
    [Music]
  • 00:12:04
    every evening with the markets customers
  • 00:12:07
    heading home a cleanup operation begins
  • 00:12:13
    foreign
  • 00:12:18
    clothing are swept up and bundled into
  • 00:12:22
    sacks ready for tomorrow's collection
  • 00:12:30
    [Music]
  • 00:12:45
    the next morning the sheer volume of
  • 00:12:49
    waste is staggering
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    [Music]
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    but before it's even been driven away
  • 00:13:05
    another load of used clothing appears
  • 00:13:08
    and is put up for sale
  • 00:13:10
    [Music]
  • 00:13:17
    [Applause]
  • 00:13:23
    solomonoy is the city's waste manager
  • 00:13:27
    this place is serving as a Dumping
  • 00:13:29
    Ground for textile waste in the name of
  • 00:13:33
    second-hand clothing
  • 00:13:37
    close to 40 percent of whatever shipment
  • 00:13:40
    that they are coming on a daily basis
  • 00:13:42
    ends up to be complete chaff
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    of no value
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    [Applause]
  • 00:13:49
    every day this truck is full to
  • 00:13:52
    overflowing
  • 00:13:53
    [Music]
  • 00:14:08
    [Music]
  • 00:14:17
    there's roughly 6 million garments every
  • 00:14:20
    week that leave cantonmento Market as
  • 00:14:22
    waste and a huge proportion of all of
  • 00:14:26
    that clothing is trucked two hours north
  • 00:14:29
    of Accra and ends up being dumped as
  • 00:14:31
    landfill
  • 00:14:45
    foreign
  • 00:14:48
    the pressure from the used clothing
  • 00:14:50
    industry is Relentless the city of Accra
  • 00:14:54
    now has to find somewhere to dispose of
  • 00:14:57
    more than 160 tons of textile waste
  • 00:15:00
    every single day
  • 00:15:25
    is a retailer who sells her stock
  • 00:15:28
    outside the city yeah
  • 00:15:40
    um
  • 00:15:59
    it's a hand-to-mouth existence for the
  • 00:16:02
    single mother of three who travels for
  • 00:16:05
    hours between candamanto market and
  • 00:16:08
    outlying villages
  • 00:16:09
    [Music]
  • 00:16:20
    she says she fell into the trade after
  • 00:16:23
    her brother used Juju from sorcery to
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    force her off the family farm
  • 00:16:30
    [Music]
  • 00:16:35
    dinner
  • 00:16:38
    is
  • 00:16:50
    [Music]
  • 00:16:57
    production
  • 00:17:00
    s yeah
  • 00:17:03
    [Music]
  • 00:17:12
    she goes from Village to Village selling
  • 00:17:15
    her clothes
  • 00:17:26
    these two dollar dresses are something
  • 00:17:29
    of a luxury item
  • 00:17:31
    I like food
  • 00:17:36
    christiana's arrival is a highlight of
  • 00:17:39
    the week
  • 00:17:47
    so to me yeah
  • 00:18:00
    but it's a precarious Enterprise because
  • 00:18:03
    many of her customers insist on being
  • 00:18:05
    granted credit
  • 00:18:08
    foreign
  • 00:18:20
    [Music]
  • 00:18:33
    works hard to care for her family but
  • 00:18:36
    it's becoming harder because the bales
  • 00:18:39
    of clothing being imported into Ghana
  • 00:18:41
    are arriving in worse and worse
  • 00:18:44
    conditions foreign
  • 00:18:54
    [Music]
  • 00:19:11
    [Music]
  • 00:19:13
    season in Ghana and when these Fierce
  • 00:19:17
    rains come
  • 00:19:19
    The Unwanted clothing washes into the
  • 00:19:22
    city's open sewers and chokes its
  • 00:19:25
    waterways
  • 00:19:26
    [Applause]
  • 00:19:30
    you know you're in the tropics so we
  • 00:19:32
    have very high precipitation that form
  • 00:19:34
    of rainfall so any heavy downfall of
  • 00:19:38
    rain will gather all these uncollected
  • 00:19:41
    with into the storm drains which are not
  • 00:19:44
    covered anyway and then it gets into the
  • 00:19:46
    ocean
  • 00:19:48
    it means all these layers of textile
  • 00:19:51
    without a
  • 00:19:53
    stockpiling at the ocean bed
  • 00:19:56
    and that is what will choke The Aquatic
  • 00:19:59
    Life in there
  • 00:20:03
    yeah this is like dug into the ground so
  • 00:20:06
    when we've done cleanups here you can
  • 00:20:08
    dig like 15 feet and still signs Tangles
  • 00:20:12
    of clothing
  • 00:20:14
    Liz Ricketts has spent the past decade
  • 00:20:16
    documenting the impact of clothing waste
  • 00:20:18
    on Ghana so it also becomes really
  • 00:20:21
    dangerous for people when they're
  • 00:20:22
    swimming
  • 00:20:23
    because they're like rolling back and
  • 00:20:26
    forth and it'll hit them and then also
  • 00:20:29
    hits the fisherman's boats and wraps
  • 00:20:31
    around their Motors the textiles which
  • 00:20:33
    wash back onshore become so tangled in
  • 00:20:37
    the sand they're almost impossible to
  • 00:20:40
    dig out
  • 00:20:44
    [Music]
  • 00:20:50
    so this you know is all tangled up and
  • 00:20:53
    it's a little bit harder for you to see
  • 00:20:54
    but when they first wash up there very
  • 00:20:56
    long you know they can be eight feet to
  • 00:20:58
    30 feeds and sometimes three feet wide
  • 00:21:03
    these tentacles have their Origins at
  • 00:21:06
    candamanto Market
  • 00:21:14
    [Music]
  • 00:21:21
    [Applause]
  • 00:21:27
    Emmanuel yeah hello hey wow Linton
  • 00:21:30
    better ABC yeah wow
  • 00:21:33
    nice to meet you thank you
  • 00:21:36
    Emmanuel ajab is another importer
  • 00:21:41
    we are going to take this beer
  • 00:21:43
    this one yeah
  • 00:21:46
    this one from Austria we want to see
  • 00:21:50
    what is inside
  • 00:21:53
    and it's a ladies summer jacket
  • 00:21:58
    he's one of the few to import used
  • 00:22:00
    clothing from Australia
  • 00:22:05
    yeah
  • 00:22:07
    I'm going to open
  • 00:22:09
    will shut them into groups okay until
  • 00:22:13
    they open their Bales importers have no
  • 00:22:16
    idea whether they contain trash or
  • 00:22:19
    treasure
  • 00:22:21
    so this one's going like this top
  • 00:22:23
    quality okay here we can't wear this one
  • 00:22:26
    so is that going to be rubbish yeah this
  • 00:22:28
    is rubbish
  • 00:22:31
    and this one too
  • 00:22:33
    we'll call it the second second okay
  • 00:22:36
    you can't wear it yeah this one is going
  • 00:22:39
    to look it's got it it's got a stain
  • 00:22:42
    here
  • 00:22:45
    Emmanuel and his colleagues despair at
  • 00:22:48
    the growing number of low quality
  • 00:22:50
    clothes arriving in Ghana
  • 00:22:53
    what do you think of this one see how it
  • 00:22:56
    is
  • 00:22:58
    from here or ladies it's sweat you
  • 00:23:02
    should not put it in the bed it's lucky
  • 00:23:04
    so it's an insults
  • 00:23:08
    in Europe and UK and Australia American
  • 00:23:12
    they think Africa here we are we are not
  • 00:23:17
    like a human being sorry to say that you
  • 00:23:20
    use this because what they are giving to
  • 00:23:22
    us is like even if somebody knock your
  • 00:23:25
    door and he won't help you you cannot
  • 00:23:28
    just giving picking something from your
  • 00:23:31
    Dustbin and give to the person so in
  • 00:23:33
    this case it's like they are doing this
  • 00:23:36
    to us
  • 00:23:37
    this pile cost Emmanuel 92 dollars
  • 00:23:44
    this ones are the ones you can sell okay
  • 00:23:47
    after sorting the whole Bale he can see
  • 00:23:50
    he's going to make a significant loss on
  • 00:23:53
    these Australian clothes five six seven
  • 00:23:58
    foreign and how many all together in a
  • 00:24:01
    bail
  • 00:24:02
    this one the uh
  • 00:24:05
    180 to 200 pieces in the Bell
  • 00:24:08
    and you'll find seven pieces very bad
  • 00:24:13
    so at the end of today where will you
  • 00:24:16
    put that we are going to throw them away
  • 00:24:22
    the problem is there's no room anywhere
  • 00:24:25
    in Accra left to throw them
  • 00:24:27
    [Music]
  • 00:24:31
    this massive carefully engineered
  • 00:24:34
    landfill was meant to be the solution to
  • 00:24:37
    acura's waste crisis it should have
  • 00:24:39
    provided enough capacity for 15 years
  • 00:24:42
    but once it started accepting clothing
  • 00:24:45
    waste from cantonmento Market was filled
  • 00:24:48
    to overflowing within just five
  • 00:24:56
    [Music]
  • 00:25:15
    now the city's only alternative is a
  • 00:25:19
    growing network of informal unregulated
  • 00:25:21
    dumps
  • 00:25:23
    [Music]
  • 00:25:27
    so a lot of the waste is brought here by
  • 00:25:30
    informal collectors who pick it up at
  • 00:25:32
    the end of the day
  • 00:25:34
    like this one on the edge of old Fatima
  • 00:25:37
    the city's biggest slum
  • 00:25:40
    [Music]
  • 00:25:44
    it doesn't look like there's anything
  • 00:25:45
    wrong with them at all
  • 00:25:47
    synthetic textiles can take hundreds of
  • 00:25:50
    years to decompose
  • 00:25:52
    this mountain of waste May cast its
  • 00:25:55
    fettered shadow over these neighborhoods
  • 00:25:58
    for generations to come
  • 00:26:00
    [Music]
  • 00:26:10
    I think unfortunately what happens is
  • 00:26:13
    that the waste they are blamed for the
  • 00:26:16
    waste the people of old Fatima are not
  • 00:26:19
    responsible for this problem but they
  • 00:26:21
    are forced to live with it then this
  • 00:26:24
    waste ends up in places like this where
  • 00:26:26
    it's used to further disenfranchise
  • 00:26:28
    people who are already living in poverty
  • 00:26:30
    to blame them for ways that they did not
  • 00:26:32
    create
  • 00:26:39
    while all consumers bear some
  • 00:26:41
    responsibility for this waste crisis Liz
  • 00:26:44
    Ricketts lays much of the blame at the
  • 00:26:46
    door of the world's big fashion houses
  • 00:26:49
    really it's Brands it's brands that are
  • 00:26:52
    over producing waste is a part of the
  • 00:26:54
    business model of fashion a lot of
  • 00:26:55
    Brands overproduce by up to 40 percent
  • 00:27:00
    so when did they start burning this
  • 00:27:03
    uh at least three weeks ago much of The
  • 00:27:07
    Unwanted clothing is simply burned
  • 00:27:11
    [Music]
  • 00:27:15
    It's Not Unusual for accra's Sky to
  • 00:27:19
    Blacken with smoke for days at a time
  • 00:27:24
    [Music]
  • 00:27:27
    thank you
  • 00:27:31
    [Music]
  • 00:27:39
    [Music]
  • 00:27:51
    [Music]
  • 00:27:58
    for many who live in Old Fatima
  • 00:28:01
    including Aisha idrisu the flow of
  • 00:28:05
    second-hand clothing into Ghana has been
  • 00:28:07
    a lifeline
  • 00:28:13
    [Music]
  • 00:28:29
    there are other problems which are
  • 00:28:32
    simply more pressing
  • 00:28:34
    foreign
  • 00:28:36
    [Music]
  • 00:28:39
    with four other women and all their
  • 00:28:43
    worldly belongings
  • 00:28:49
    today
  • 00:28:54
    so perhaps it's for the West instead to
  • 00:28:57
    think more carefully about the quality
  • 00:29:00
    of what we donate
  • 00:29:02
    I'm not sure they've ever been conscious
  • 00:29:05
    to ask where is the final destination of
  • 00:29:09
    that thing they are discarding but if
  • 00:29:11
    they come here like you've come and see
  • 00:29:13
    the practicality for yourself then they
  • 00:29:16
    will know that no we better take care of
  • 00:29:19
    this thing within our country and not to
  • 00:29:22
    ship the problem to other peoples
  • 00:29:35
    thank you
Tags
  • textile waste
  • secondhand clothing
  • Ghana
  • environmental impact
  • Accra
  • fast fashion
  • imports
  • charity shops
  • waste management
  • fashion industry