On Earth Day and as part of Fashion Revolution Week, Greenpeace Germany published the results of on-site research revealing the devastating consequences of used clothing exports for the people and the environment in countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. The overproduction of the fast fashion industry is causing ever greater mountains of waste in the Southern Hemisphere.
Using Kenya and Tanzania as examples, the report “Poisoned Gifts” reveals how used clothing exports are abused to dispose of textile waste. Shocking photos and videos document the devastating consequences for people and the environment: huge mountains of garbage, polluted rivers, polluted air. “The fast fashion industry has turned clothes into non-recyclable plastic disposable items, like plastic bags,” says Viola Wohlgemuth, resource conservation expert at Greenpeace. “With our research, we uncover how countries and companies in the Global North are shirking their responsibility for this hazardous waste. They leave the people in East Africa alone with the exported plastic textile waste - without any infrastructure for disposal. ”
While public pressure on the fast-fashion industry has increased after the deaths of more than 1,000 people in a disaster at a textile factory in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, nine years ago, and with an increasing number of fashion brands striving to present a cleaner image, the textile sector is more distant from the “circular economy” that many companies now tout than almost any other industry, according to Greenpeace. Less than one percent of all garments are made from recycled textile fibers. And the overall production volume is still increasing by 2.7 percent annually. Fast fashion has long since developed into ultra-fast fashion.
More than one million tons of old clothes are collected in Germany alone every year. Less than a third is resold in Germany as second-hand goods. The majority is exported to Eastern Europe and Africa. But many garments no longer have any market value because they are defective, soiled or unsuitable for the local climate. Research has shown that 30 to 40 percent of imports can no longer be sold. Together with overproduction, they end up in landfills and rivers or are burned in the open air: one truckload per second globally.
“It’s not enough to write the word ‘sustainable’ on textiles without changing the business model,” Wohlgemuth says. “As with the climate, we need an international agreement that bans the export of textile waste, mandates recyclable product design, and a global tax that incorporates the ‘polluter pays’ principle. That means making manufacturers financially responsible for the cost of cleaning up the environmental and health damage caused throughout the supply chain.”
For more, see the 15-page report, which Greenpeace Germany provides in English at www.greenpeace.de.
