“We Cannot Survive”: Ghana’s Fast Fashion crisis

Over 100 tonnes of clothes are dumped at the Kantomanto Market in Accra every day, and the people of Ghana are suffering.

Much of the waste originates from western nations, with the recent explosion of fast fashion exacerbating the issue.

The Australian broadcasting company states that people in developed countries are buying 60% more clothes than they did 15 years ago and that an estimated 85% of all textiles end up in dumps every year.

Those running the market aren’t at fault for these issues and make efforts to sell and reuse as much as they can, however the combination of the unimaginable quantity of items and the fact many are worthless leads to 40% of the clothes finding their way into the gargantuan dumps on the water’s edge.

These dumps are causing havoc to not only the local economy but also the people of the region’s food supply.

Fisherman Kofi Sarpong, speaking to Forbes Africa explained how the textile waste was consistently ruining their nets stating, “we cannot survive”.

Speaking at the ChangeNOW conference in May 2023, Solomon Noi, made a plea for action, describing the plight of Ghanaians in the region, many of whom rely on fishing for both their livelihood and food supply.

According to a report by the Bank of Ghana, the average Ghanaian receives 60% of their protein intake from fish, and around 10% of the population relies on fishing for their livelihood.

Alongside polluting the rivers and damaging nets, the size of the dumps is beginning to make it impossible for fishermen to even reach the water, wreaking havoc on the Ghanaian people’s ability to sustain themselves and resulting in rampant poverty.

It is not merely the ability to fish that is being affected, but the supply of edible fish itself.

The region experienced shock deaths of large groups of fish in 2021. Despite conflicting reports from the government suggesting it was just a coincidence, while also telling people to not eat the fish, the University of Ghana Ecological Lab conducted studies that showed the fish to have greatly increased levels of cobalt, copper and cadmium, going on to attribute this to the level’s textile waste in the water.

While Ghana is the epicentre of this crisis, textile waste is a global issue with nations such as Nigeria, Ukraine and Pakistan also being ravaged by the effects of the fast fashion industry. An estimated $46m worth of clothing was exported to Pakistan in 2021 alone, a large proportion of which found its way into landfills.

Change is possible though, and many people are working to resolve the issue that The Or Foundation has described as “Fashion’s waste crisis”.

In March 2022, the EU launched the ‘Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles’ which aims to reverse over-consumption and over-production by promoting resource-efficient manufacturing processes and circular business models that will hopefully prevent increased textile production inevitably leading to increased textile waste by 2030.

In Ghana, the Kantamanto traders themselves submitted a proposal to the European Environment Bureau (EEB) in May this year asking for clothing producers to pay a fee of 44p per item to the EEB and that at least 10% of the funds raised should go towards resolving the damage caused.

Alongside this, on the 16th May this year, campaigner Yvette Tetteh finished swimming the length of the Volta river in Ghana to raise awareness of the pollution in its waters and the damage it is causing to communities in the region.

With more focus on avoiding fast fashion brands, some change is possible. Yet, with the dominance of fast fashion in modern western culture, its total removal is likely impossible. However, with the promotion of policies like the one suggested to the EEB by the retailers of Kantamanto and the continued focus of the EU on eradicating textile waste, the destructive footprint of this industry can be controlled, improving the lives of millions around the world.