Environment: How our old clothes pollute Ghana

The waves of the Atlantic Ocean inevitably reject them on the shores, where they converge for hundreds of meters. Thousands of dresses worn in the West end up on the sides of Ghana and even in the capital, Central Agra. Today an artificial hill, twenty meters high, has not stopped growing for fifteen years. “We burn clothes again and again, but always more. It makes us sick. “, Explains one of them. These fumes are toxic, although no studies have been done.

160 tons of clothes arrive in Ghana every day, which no one in the West likes. An entire economy has developed around these second-hand garments. But the usability is very low. More than 70 tons of fabric per day end up in the garbage dump, which is an environmental disaster. Liz Rickets Founded a voluntary charity to learn about the impact of textile pollution. “Clothes take many years to decompose, during which time harmful and toxic microfibers are released into the environment.” The founder explains The or Foundation. Brands and consumers are responsible, as this former New York stylist calls for a change in consumption as the shelf life of a garment shrinks. At least one in eight T-shirts ends up on the African landscape.