Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world's throwaway fashion

This week's podcast focuses on textile waste from fast fashion. As cheap clothes from China, Asia and Europe increasingly end up in West Africa, pollution is rising – particularly in Ghana. RFI spoke to Greenpeace Africa investigators to understand the scale of the issue and how to combat it.

Ghana is being swamped by millions of unwanted clothes from the West, creating an environmental disaster as textile waste piles up across the country.

The scale of damage to public health and the environment has been laid bare in a new Greenpeace report that exposes the devastating impact of discarded clothing on communities and ecosystems in Ghana. 

About 15 million items of second-hand clothing arrive in Ghana each week. Nearly half cannot be resold.

The unsellable clothes end up in informal dumps or are burned in public washhouses, contaminating the air, soil and water.

"The situation is catastrophic. These clothes are literally poisoning our communities," said Sam Quashie-Idun from Greenpeace Africa, speaking to RFI.

The report shows how Ghana has become a dumping ground for the world's unwanted textiles, with devastating consequences for local ecosystems.

"What we're seeing is environmental racism. The Global North is using Ghana as its trash can," said Helen Dena of Greenpeace Africa.

The flood of cheap, disposable fashion reflects broader problems with global waste management and environmental justice.

To explore this issue further, RFI spoke to Sam Quashie-Idun and Helen Dena from Greenpeace Africa.  

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.
Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale.