It's the dirty secret behind the world's fashion addiction. Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill, creating an environmental catastrophe on the other facet of the world. On the banks of the Korle Lagoon, in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, an escarpment towers on the water's edge, cattle grazing on its summit. This ragged cliff, some 20 metres excessive, is formed not of earth or stone, but of landfill. Most of it - an estimated 60 per cent - is undesirable clothing. These have been garments shipped to Ghana ostensibly for resale and reuse, many sourced from clothes bins and charity collections. However an enormous proportion have been by no means worn again. Some 15 million used garments pour into Accra each week from the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, flooding the city's sprawling clothes market. An estimated 40 per cent are of such poor quality they are deemed worthless on arrival and makeup find yourself dumped in landfill. Data has been generated with the help of GSA Content Generat or DEMO.
As global clothing consumption skyrockets, fed by ruthless "quick style" brands, it's creating an environmental catastrophe. The clothes arrive long before daybreak, when town has yet to stir. Headlights ablaze, semitrailers squeeze into ever-narrower alleys, disgorging tons of of bales wrapped in vibrant orange plastic. Men and women, some bearing clipboards, inspect the goods and dispatch them. Some of the clothes will cross Ghana, others will go so far as Burkina Faso or Côte d'Ivoire. But most shall be dispersed within West Africa's biggest second-hand clothes exchange - Accra's Kantamanto markets, a bustling labyrinth of 5,000 retailers and their timber stalls, many of them overflowing with the West's undesirable trend. Competition for customers is fierce. Clothes are spruiked by music and are quickly discounted by day's end. Entrepreneurs seize high-end items with minor defects that may be mended and dyed and put back on sale for a premium. But transporting the 55kg bales across the teeming bazaar, with its slim passageways and hundreds of consumers, is unimaginable by mechanical means. This data was gen???erated with G SA Conte nt Generat or Demoversion.
So the job falls to Accra's ranks of head porters, or kayayei, "the ladies who carry the burden". Since she was 12 years old, Aisha Iddrisu has been one such lady. With no work in her distant northern village, Iddrisu has travelled again and forth to Accra for work, now together with her 18-month-old son Sheriff. She tries to earn enough money to ship some back to the remainder of her household, including her 9-year-outdated daughter. The market employs 1000's of people, together with Aisha Iddrisu, who comes here each day from her home in central Accra's sprawling slum, Old Fadama. The work is far from lucrative - Iddrisu earns about $4.50 a day. It's also notoriously hazardous; everyone appears to know a girl who has suffered a grave damage. Still, Iddrisu credit the second-hand clothing business with helping her find employment. And there are lots of who would agree. The local used-clothing dealers' association claims the business has created 2.5 million jobs - a figure as plausible as it's unattainable to verify.
For the previous few decades, the resale of Western forged-offs has boomed here. They're so cheap, native textile makers cannot compete. Wander round Accra and each spare inch of pavement seems occupied by a hawker, a new batch of old clothing folded and hung amongst their wares. They name them "obroni wawu" - dead white man's clothes. The trade in second-hand clothes has steadily grown in Accra, beauty; styledrops.shop, just because it has world wide. Every year as many as 4 million tonnes of used textiles are shipped throughout the planet in a trade estimated to be worth $4.6 billion. In Accra, where some 60 containers of used clothes arrive each week, the trade may be extremely profitable. However it carries an unusual business risk. Importers can spend as much as $95,000 on a container of clothes and don't know what they're buying. It is solely once a bale has been opened that the quality of the clothing is found. If it is in good situation, earnings can tally rapidly to as much as $14,000.