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Anyone been to Ghana?

Has anyone gone to the e waste dumping site? That looks really interesting but the tours all look quite pricey
 
There's a really interesting episode of Unreported World about the secondhand clothing market in Ghana.

I knew it wasn't a great idea, but it's much worse than I thought:


(A few years back, a friend of mine decided to get in on the action and shipped a container load of clothes to Ghana. Except that he didn't check it and it turned out to be mostly table cloths ....)
 
There's a really interesting episode of Unreported World about the secondhand clothing market in Ghana.

I knew it wasn't a great idea, but it's much worse than I thought:


(A few years back, a friend of mine decided to get in on the action and shipped a container load of clothes to Ghana. Except that he didn't check it and it turned out to be mostly table cloths ....)
Yeah, it's really bad.

Kantamanto: fast fashion's final stop - Apparel Insider
 
Why are so many second hand clothes being sent to Ghana, is that just what's being 'donated'?
The charity shops cannot resell all that is donated, so they sell on to businesses that ship containers to other countries. There are also those places which buy clothes by the kilo. I went to see a sorting place in the Midlands once - they were sorting into hot/cold country stuff, but obviously if you sell by the kilo, then you will be inclined to include the crap too.

I was always uneasy about it and even had a vague plan to go and set up a little clothing factory in Ghana at one point, but I wasn't aware of how much was just dumped.

Some African countries have banned the import of secondhand clothing.
 
The thing that I wasn’t expecting in kantamanto is how it’s all (not all but a lot) sorted into categories, like one person only has white cotton clothing one has kids sandals one has a stall with small handful of ‘designer’ gear only. How that distribution happens I don’t have a clue. Also what happens to the larger sizes stuff cos not really a lot of larger size people there generally compared to where the clothes come from.
 
The thing that I wasn’t expecting in kantamanto is how it’s all (not all but a lot) sorted into categories, like one person only has white cotton clothing one has kids sandals one has a small handful of ‘designer’ gear. How that distribution happens I don’t have a clue.
When you've got a moment, watch the Channel 4 programme I linked to. It follows one of the vendors.
 
The charity shops cannot resell all that is donated, so they sell on to businesses that ship containers to other countries. There are also those places which buy clothes by the kilo. I went to see a sorting place in the Midlands once - they were sorting into hot/cold country stuff, but obviously if you sell by the kilo, then you will be inclined to include the crap too.

I was always uneasy about it and even had a vague plan to go and set up a little clothing factory in Ghana at one point, but I wasn't aware of how much was just dumped.

Some African countries have banned the import of secondhand clothing.
I was listening to BBC World Service with a Sierra Leonean guy one time, and the big story was Mugabe banning the import of second-hand underwear to Zimbabwe. The Beeb took the line that this was the latest madness from the criminal mastermind of Harare, but my S/L contact was saying, "hang on, he's right".
 
Ah hopefully the wifi signal is strong enough for this to work as I've not been able to post any pics on urban since I arrived
 

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Id love to know wtf this is about. I might try and find out in a bit 🤣
 

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Feel free, but my advice is over ten years old. bimble is far more up-to-date. And reading stories of their trip reminds me of why I love the place. Slightly amused by your South African mother worried about your visit. It's 100 times safer than South Africa.
My ghanaian friends were quite worried about me going to places or buying stuff on my own but tbh this is a million times safer than most places I've lived.
 
Great photos frogwoman and love the frock!

I think it is the country with most churches per square mile (or something like that), they do love their churches.

Because they have very few tourists, you will get curious stares, but the people are generally very friendly and it's defnitely a country I could live in.
 
The charity shops cannot resell all that is donated, so they sell on to businesses that ship containers to other countries. There are also those places which buy clothes by the kilo. I went to see a sorting place in the Midlands once - they were sorting into hot/cold country stuff, but obviously if you sell by the kilo, then you will be inclined to include the crap too.

I was always uneasy about it and even had a vague plan to go and set up a little clothing factory in Ghana at one point, but I wasn't aware of how much was just dumped.

Some African countries have banned the import of secondhand clothing.

I’m working in Tanzania and the locals make massive rope/old clothes constructions and float them in the sea as FADs (fish aggregation devices)

The beaches are full of them washed up and partially buried being mainly nylon they ain’t going anywhere
 
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