It is well known that shiploads of second-hand clothes are transported from Europe and North America to Africa, Pakistan, Chile and other places. Some are sold in local markets. But how such a large volume of these garments end up in dumping grounds or on shorelines is a topic of much debate. 

What really happens to the used clothes we donate to charity without a thought? Numerous reports have been published on the second-hand clothing trade and its repercussions, with media relaying striking images of dumping grounds in the vicinity of the markets of Kantamanto, in Accra, Ghana or Kampala in Uganda, not to mention the Atacama Desert in Chile. Their findings vary widely. Does textile waste make up less than 10%, as some claim, or 40%, the figure most often quoted in the media and based on a widely publicised document by the Or Foundation?

The trade in second-hand clothing is complex and global. Like many waste management sectors, it is not a paragon of transparency. Last month, the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) held its first-ever conference on textiles. The Brussels-based organisation brought together representatives from Europe, Africa and Asia to shed light on the intricacies of a highly convoluted but inherently circular economy.

We know where the market for second-hand clothing starts: in our overfull closets. But what happens once we have donated them to charity? Each stage of their odyssey, from street bin to market stall and to landfill, generates revenue for businesses both large and small. Calling them ‘waste’ is a first friction point in understanding the sector, and this was the subject of a panel talk at the BIR conference. 

The second-hand clothing business originates in developed countries, where bring-back containers, retailer take-back schemes and charities are the first to capture our unwanted stuff. These used clothes, home textiles and shoes are directed to collectors and sorters who separate what can be reworn, and thus resold, locally or abroad. The ‘crème’, which represents around 5% of total collected volumes, usually stays in Western Europe. Depending on their quality, the remaining rewearable items are sold to wholesalers for further sorting and exported worldwide. Second-grade textiles are typically sent to Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the lowest qualities to Asian markets, and a special grade of lightweight garments known as ‘tropical mix’ is exported to sub-Saharan Africa. This is the initial sorting process that used clothing undergoes according to a report, “LCA-based assessment of the management of European used textiles”, published in 2023 by Norion Consult, a Danish consultancy, for EuRIC textiles, the textile division of the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation.

This reusable portion of the clothing collected in developed countries is believed to represent roughly 55-60% of volumes collected, and probably a larger proportion of a collector’s revenues. What cannot be reworn, can have value. Cotton-rich textiles are cut into squares and sold as industrial cleaning wipes, often on site, and other non-rewearable items can be used to make various insulation materials. These open-loop recycling circuits are another source of income for collectors, and which they would not call downcycling.

But this first leg of the used clothing trade faces increasingly difficult times, due to a variety of factors, says Mariska Boer, president of EuRIC Textiles and co-owner of Boer Group, a Dutch collector and sorter. With the rise of fast fashion and even more so with ultra-fast fashion, the quality of second-hand clothing has steadily declined. Peer-to-peer resale platforms are also drying up this sector’s resources. Meanwhile, their energy and labour costs have risen. “Sorting remains largely manual, as automated systems are not fully efficient, and wages account for 70% of our operating expenses,” she says. 

“If well sorted, textiles have a big potential for reuse,” says Ms Boer, but she points out that reuse and recycling are two fundamentally different markets. “While there is a business model for reuse, there is none for recycling. Today, the reuse market is funding the recycling one.” She calls for financial incentives to make recycling commercially viable for collectors and sorters, and would like to see restrictions put on the import of throwaway fashion into Europe. 

The European Union is taking steps to better manage discarded clothing, specifically with Extended Producer Responsibility frameworks, which are designed to help finance a stronger infrastructure for reuse, repair and recycling. France established one for textiles and footwear in 2008, the Netherlands and Hungary have one, and a voluntary system exists in the Flanders region of Belgium. The amount of post-consumer textiles collected is expected to increase when their separate collection becomes mandatory in the European Union on 1 January 2025. Maud Hardy, general manager of ReFashion, the French producer responsibility organisation, says that the government has requested the organisation double collection rates by 2028. A prospect she finds daunting. In 2023, 268,161 tonnes of used clothing, home textiles and footwear were collected in France, or almost 4 kg per inhabitant.

Fit for reuse or not? 

While the recycling infrastructure in Europe is at a very early stage of industrialisation, the notion of waste hierarchy recommends reuse before recycling. Furthermore, the global trade in second-hand clothing is a source of livelihood for many in the Global South. A vast majority of Ghanaians, some 95% of the population, consume used clothing, as reported by the Swiss Academy for Development (SAD) in 1997. Teresiah Wairimu, chair of the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya, who participated in the BIR conference via video, says her organisation represents “two million people directly employed in the used clothing industry and more than 20 million others depending on it for their livelihood”. 

In 2019, the European Union exported 1.3 million tonnes of used clothes, up from 400,000 tonnes in 2003, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA). Africa is the main market, accounting for 46% of exports, followed by Asia (41%), non-EU European countries (11%) and South America (1%). While some countries are calling for a ban on the export of second-hand clothing to non-OECD countries, both exporters and importers of these sorted and baled goods strongly oppose such measures. The issue hinges on differing perceptions of what second-hand clothing is: is it waste or a resource? 

The codes for used textiles exported by the EU are divided into two product categories: worn textiles and clothing ‘fit for reuse’ are coded 6309 whereas ‘sorted and unsorted used rags and textile waste’ are coded 6310. The EEA report notes, however, that “many textiles are exported unsorted and most likely contain both items fit and unfit for reuse. So, the classification does not necessarily describe the actual state of what is exported.”

At the BIR conference, Marlvin Owusu, an executive member of the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association, confirms that “one of the biggest challenges we have is simply the misconception of second-hand clothing”. The association’s own research, “An evaluation of the socio-economic and environmental impact of the second-hand clothes trade in Ghana”, published earlier this year, found that waste represents 5% of the second-hand clothes imported. “Mostly everything is kept in circulation, we are contributing to a circular economy,” he insists. Reports suggesting that imported bales contain 40% waste cannot be trusted, he argues, because “there is no business model in the world that could support a waste level of 40%”.

Ms Wairimu agrees that these figures reveal a misunderstanding of African markets. Her organisation has found that textile waste in Nairobi accounts for 1.89% of imports. “We are business people, we import goods for sale and our government regulates and forbids waste. In Kenya, we only import sorted clothes and we are leading the way on building a circular economy through textile use. It is very insulting to hear we are importing waste,” she says. The issue of waste management in Kenya is a completely different problem that has nothing to do with ‘mitumba’, the second-hand clothing trade, she adds. 

WasteAid, a British organisation addressing waste management issues in developing countries, is about to publish its own report on textile waste generated by the Owino market in Kampala, Uganda. Michelle Wilson, director of programmes, says some 50,000 vendors sell second-hand clothing and 30,000 people visit the market every day. WasteAid surveyed more than 1,000 traders over a two-week period. “Our findings indicate that the actual waste generated resulted mostly from the tailors and machinists who transform used clothes for customers,” she says, noting that the organisation interviewed 600 tailors. “Our findings indicate that waste makes up only 1%, possibly as little as 0.9%, of used clothing imports.” However, she points out that some unsold clothes may not have been counted in WasteAid’s research. “Some may be sent to other urban centres in Uganda. Another category of unsold goods may be what is locally called ‘fagi’.” This term is used to describe items that are either not timely or not fashionable, and are usually set aside to be sold at a more opportune moment. “The initial findings, I'll be honest, surprised me,” she told the audience. WasteAid’s report will be released this October and received funding from Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Programme (SMET), a UK government fund.

‘Dead white man’s clothes’, as they are called in Africa, are a source of income and clothing for multitudes. How many of us in the Global North have ever given a thought to their possible repurposing, what we would call upcycling, by local tailors? Our unwanted clothes are adjusted for size, sleeves are removed or repaired, jeans can be fitted or flared by taking a panel from another, the possibilities are endless. As are the cuttings. 

So what about the mountains of waste we equate with a faulty second-hand clothing trade? Attendees at the BIR conference, most of whom are in the recycling business, recommend that we take a closer look at those open-air dumps. There is certainly a lot of textiles, but there is also a lot of other types of garbage that should not be there. 

The second-hand clothing trade is complex and mostly artisanal. Speakers at the BIR conference insist that it should not be conflated with the lack of an efficient waste management infrastructure in the Global South. And especially, as Lisa Jepsen, CEO of US-based collector and sorter Gerson & Shaw, tells WSA, “we need to stop calling it waste”.

Sorting process in a Boer Group facility: used items are sorted into 350 or 400 categories. Rewearable items make up roughly 49%, followed by recycling (21%), rags (17%), refuse (8%) and shoes (7%).
Credit: Boer Group

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