Even if we feel good about ourselves when we donate clothes to second-hand stores, in many cases this causes a significant environmental and social problem in the poorest countries of the world. The solution: simply buy less new clothes
By Mittal Pelag Mizrahi - Angle - Science and Environment News Agency
Recently Instagram was burned by the photos of Huge mountains of clothes thrown in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The disturbing images, first published by the AFP news agency, spread like wildfire: from the Guardian's account to the accounts of activists around the world, everyone shared the images. The never-ending textile waste that fills the viral images is a very small part of the 59 thousand tons of clothes that arrive in Chile every year - an amount of clothes equal to the weight of about 150 thousand grand pianos. Most of these clothes come as a donation from the Global North to the Global South - that is, to poor countries in South America and Africa. The situation in Chile shows that although many of us believe that we are helping those in need when we donate the clothes we no longer have use for, in many cases we are only contributing to the worsening of a severe environmental and social problem in the poor countries.
The pictures from Chile are not the first to be uploaded The subject of "donations" of clothes to the headlines. In 2019, a series of East African countries led by Rwanda tried to outlaw the acceptance of clothing donations, under the claim that they destroy the local economy. In response, the United States, led by then-President Donald Trump, Threatened to exclude the countries that refused to accept contributions from the US-Africa preferential trade agreement - a threat that de facto means an embargo on the weakest countries in the world. This led to the failure of the attempt. It should be noted that Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has been the most vocal leader in the fight to end the donation ban, has argued that East Africa should continue the process, even if it means sacrificing economic growth. or whether to useHis words: "This is the choice we have to make. We may suffer consequences. Even when faced with difficult choices, there is always a way out."
85 percent of the clothes are thrown away - and quickly
In order to understand why poor countries in Africa are willing to sacrifice their economic growth in order to stop receiving second-hand clothes, it is important to know the numbers behind the clothing and textile industry. The fashion industry produces each year approx.150 billion items of clothing, with only 80 billion of them being sold. In addition to the 70 billion items of clothing that are not sold, 85 percent of the clothes that are sold are thrown away in less than Change from the moment of purchase. The direct meaning of all these unwanted clothes is Huge amounts of textile waste: Clothes that can be in excellent condition many times - but no one even wants to accept them as a donation.
The reason there is no demand for all these clothes, not even in poor countries in Africa, is simply that there is in our world Way too many clothes. In fact, if all the fashion companies stopped making clothes tomorrow morning, we would still have enough clothes to clothe the world for the next 50 years. Considering that despite the huge amounts of clothes that already exist in the world we continue to buy more and more new clothes, the result is a lot of clothes that find their way to third world countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America.
It is important to mention that the clothing manufacturing process is very polluting. for the production of one t-shirt 150 grams of toxic insecticides are required, And about 3,500 toxic chemicals are involved in the dyeing stage of the clothes alone. The result is a very big environmental problem.
Many of us donate our used clothes to second-hand stores, such as the Vizu clothing store in Israel or The Salvation Army abroad. These stores receive tons upon tons of clothes for donation every day - quantities that are significantly larger than what they can sell. In fact, from the conversations I had with the Wicho team, the stores usually manage to sell only 30 percent of the clothes they receive, or even only 10 percent during periods loaded with donations such as Passover or during periods when online sales increase, such as Corona closures.
The "donation" that hurts the local economy
And so, all the unwanted clothes that we donated with a lot of good intentions are sent to poor countries around the world. Today, East African countries import used clothes and shoes worth from the USA and Europe 151 million dollars on average per year as part of trade agreements between them. buying, for example, alone imports 100 million tons of used fashion products each year from charitable organizations in the West.
These clothes, which African countries are obliged to buy (even if at a very discounted price) as part of trade agreements, will initially be sold in huge second-hand markets, which severely harm the African economy. Take Tanzania for example: in the 60s and 70s, the textile industry employed about 25 percent of the local workforce and contributed 25 percent of the GNP in the industrial sector. However, with the introduction of clothing donations to the country in the 80s, the local textile industry deteriorated immeasurably, and countless lost their livelihoods.
Most of the unwanted clothes will not be sold in the second-hand markets either, and will be buried in the ground or burned. This produces A huge environmental problem in the countries where we are Get rid of the clothes: Those countries that initially contributed a fraction to the problem, that have far fewer tools at their disposal to deal with it - and not coincidentally, they are among the poorest countries in the world.
When we dump countless unwanted articles of clothing in the ground, or burn mountains of clothes, for all the toxic chemicals in them, we cause severe pollution of the soil, air and groundwater in the countries we have contributed to. Simply put, donating clothes mainly clears our conscience, and frees up space in our closet for new clothes - which, according to all statistics, will also end up in landfills in less than a year.
Strive to reduce shopping
This environmental problem has several key solutions. First, it is better to buy clothes in second-hand stores instead of "donating" them ourselves. Second, new clothes must be bought in a wise and considered manner, which strives to reduce the amount of items we purchase and extend the life of those we already have. Finally, Must be aware of the issue: The better we recognize the environmental consequences of our unnecessary purchases, the better we will be for the planet, for the countries that receive the waste we have produced, for our hearts and for the already exploding closet in our room.
Meital Peleg Mizrachi She is a doctoral student in public policy at Tel Aviv University, a researcher and lecturer on sustainable fashion and environmental justice, a graduate of an internship at the Ministry of Finance in the field of green economy and fashion and culture studies at Telatan College, and one of the founders of "Matbaleshot" - the movement to promote fair fashion in Israel.
