“The Global North is using second-hand clothing sales as a pressure relief valve to deal with the huge waste problem of fast fashion,” says a recent report.
A third of used clothing exported to Kenya in 2021 was “plastic waste in disguise”, says the Dutch Changing Markets Foundation in a report published on Thursday(http://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Trashion-Report-Web-Final.pdf). According to the report, the donated clothes pose a wide range of environmental and health problems for locals.
Tons of donated clothing are sent to developing countries every year, but it is estimated that around 30% of these end up in landfills or on local markets, potentially stifling local production.
According to a report by the Netherlands Foundation, around 900 million items of used clothing are sent to Kenya every year. A significant proportion of these clothes are made of polyester or other oil-based materials and are in such poor condition that they cannot be donated.
Unfit clothes may end up burning in landfills near the capital, Nairobi, where they expose people collecting garbage to toxic gases. Tons of textiles also end up in waterways, where they break down into microfibers and end up in the bodies of aquatic animals.
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The research is based on customs data, as well as field work by the NGO Wildlight and the activist group Clean Up Kenya, and dozens of interviews. According to the report, some of the clothes were badly stained or damaged.
Unusable clothes are used as cleaning cloths in industry or as cheap fuel for roasting peanuts. Some end up in the river or end up in the market, and some are sent to huge plastic cemeteries outside the capital.
Experts say the clothing waste problem is exacerbated by the fast fashion boom in rich countries. Many clothes, often made of synthetic fibers, are worn only a few times.
The report calls for the use of non-toxic and sustainable materials in the manufacture of textiles and producer responsibility.
– The Global North uses the sale of used clothes as a pressure relief valve when dealing with the huge waste problem of fast fashion, the report reads.