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2023-08-29 Used clothing
  • 10 countries receive 70% of used clothes sent to Africa
  • Ghana is the largest importer of used clothing in Africa. China and the US are the two largest exporters
  • Almost half of the used clothing is of such poor quality that it gets dumped

With an estimated 15-million items of used clothing arriving every week, Ghana was the world's largest importer of used clothing in 2021.

Around 40% of the items are dumped because they are not wearable. Most of the rest goes to the Kantamanto market in Accra, where the surrounding areas and rivers are littered with the world's clothing.

Greenpeace says overseas countries are avoiding the responsibility of disposing of textiles properly by disguising their clothing exports as donations. The US and China are the world’s largest used clothing exporters.

— 29 August, 2023

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