Weekly, about 15-million objects of used garments find yourself in Accra, Ghana’s capital, shipped in bales from Europe, North America and Asia, in response to Enterprise Day.
THE WORLD’S LARGEST SECOND-HAND CLOTHING MARKET
Kantamanto, positioned in Accra, is the most important second-hand clothes market on this planet, with over 30 000 merchants. Sarah Bonsu, a dealer for the previous 10 years, often spends an equal of $150 on items she can’t examine till they’re delivered at her stall, in response to Forbes Africa.
“In the event you get high quality in a single batch, the subsequent batch may very well be fully garbage. That’s simply the best way issues work,” she stated. The retailers purchase blindly. The content material they obtain may very well be value 1000’s of {dollars} or nothing in any respect.
ALSO READ: Air air pollution is a hidden pandemic in Africa – recommendations on the best way to cut back it
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Heaps of undesirable clothes have now result in an environmental disaster in Ghana. In 2019, over 65 million tonnes of used clothes was despatched there and about 40% of that was not offered and was discarded, as per a report by the Tony Blair Institute for World Change. This stuff find yourself in landfills or within the sea.
Abena Essoun used to promote second-hand garments in Ghana, however is now a part of a gaggle travelling throughout Europe to foyer for assist tackling the waste disaster in response to Enterprise Day.
At the very least 100 tonnes of material waste are generated day by day in Accra, whereas metropolis trash vans can solely carry 30 tonnes.
ALSO READ: DA: South Africa continues to drown in plastic air pollution whereas ANC dithers
DEAD WHITE MAN’S CLOTHES
In Ghana – a poor nation with many challenges – the idea of such extra of things similar to garments, is a overseas idea. From there the expression for these undesirable garments – obroni wa wu, actually which means ‘the garments of the lifeless white man’. The expression comes from the assumption that solely those that are lifeless may flip their backs on such materials abundance.
ALSO READ: Zambia’s inexperienced insurance policies: Atmosphere and improvement
ALSO READ: Air air pollution may set off lung most cancers for non-smokers
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY MARZANNE JANSE VAN RENSBURG
