Ghana receives large quantities of second-hand clothing from Global North countries every year, and a significant share cannot be resold due to poor quality, ultimately ending up in informal dumps, rivers, and protected wetlands. Local workers and NGOs call this phenomenon "waste colonialism."

Key Points

  • The UK alone exported 57,000 tonnes of textile waste to Ghana last year
  • Ghana receives over 15 million second-hand garments weekly, and about 40% of imported clothing at the Kantamanto market cannot be sold
  • The illegal Agbogbloshie dump on the outskirts of Accra processes millions of discarded garments from Kantamanto every week

At the Kantamanto second-hand clothing market in Accra, Ghana's capital, traders receive shipping containers from Tema Port on Thursday mornings. A 12-metre container typically holds about 400 bales of clothing, each weighing around 55 kilograms. These bales are collected and packed in Europe and North America before arriving in Ghana, with a single bale costing upwards of 75 to 100 euros to purchase, but for buyers it is a gamble—priced according to origin and apparent quality, with no guarantee that the contents are sellable.

In reality, about 40% to 50% of the garments cannot be sold due to stains, damage, or excessive wear, becoming waste that flows into drains, landfills, and even washes up on Accra's beaches. Meanwhile, female porters known as kayayei carry bales far heavier than their own body weight on their heads, navigating crowded alleys for just 0.3 to 2 dollars per trip. Many are migrants from northern Ghana, enduring injuries and chronic pain year after year.

Agbogbloshie, on the outskirts of Accra, is one of West Africa's largest illegal dumps and the world's largest e-waste site. The Ghanaian government attempted to shut it down in 2021, but it is still operating, with textile waste making up an increasing share—about half of the unsold clothing from the Kantamanto market is dumped there. Waste pickers sort through piles of cables, plastics, and broken appliances, exposed to hazardous chemicals and extreme temperatures, earning meager incomes while also facing exploitation by local gangs. The dump regularly burns waste in the open to free up space, releasing toxic fumes.

Jamestown Beach in Accra is likewise covered in synthetic fibres and plastic. The local nonprofit Or Foundation organises a team of about 60 people every Tuesday to clean the beach, removing as much as 20 tonnes of waste each time, yet still cannot keep pace with the new wave of rubbish brought in by the tide. The Korle Lagoon dam, located 500 metres upstream from the mouth of the Odaw River, is supposed to block waste from flowing into the Gulf of Guinea, but it is becoming increasingly ineffective in the face of growing waste volumes.

The Densu Delta protected wetland not far from Accra is one of Ghana's most important coastal ecosystems, and it too is now being invaded by discarded clothing drifting from the Akkaway landfill. Birds become entangled in fragments of clothing, fishing nets and discarded garments twist together, and microplastics seep into the water as the clothing decomposes, threatening fish and the communities that depend on fishing. Local fisherman Enock says that these days, what comes up in his nets is often plastic bags, clothing, and synthetic fibres rather than fish.

Ghana is currently Africa's largest importer of second-hand clothing. Activists and NGOs describe this situation as "waste colonialism": wealthy countries exporting the consequences of overconsumption to countries with limited waste management capacity. Ghana's estimated plastic waste generation exceeded 1.1 million tonnes last year, while formal collection capacity in its major cities such as Accra covers only 45% of daily waste, with most of the rest informally burned or dumped into natural ecosystems. Cheap fast fashion clothing is also undermining Ghana's local textile traditions.

Source: Ghana, the landfill of global 'fast fashion' · Originally published 2026-09-29