Every week, nearly 15 million garments flood into Accra’s Kantamanto Market — shirts, jeans, suits, and skirts discarded by consumers in the Global North. These second-hand clothes, known locally as obroni wawu or “dead white man’s clothes,” are marketed as charitable donations. But behind this trade is a deeper problem: fast fashion dumping.
In theory, secondhand clothing trade helps. It creates jobs, provides affordable clothing, and supports micro-businesses. But in reality, the industry is drowning Ghana in textile waste, devastating local industries, and reinforcing long-standing patterns of economic dependence. Tanzania, a fellow major importer, recognized this threat and attempted to push back. Ghana, despite similar consequences, remains trapped.
Fast fashion companies like Shein, Temu, and H&M produce massive quantities of low-quality clothing. After just a few wears — or none at all — consumers toss them. Some are resold locally. Most are donated. And millions are exported to countries like Ghana and Tanzania.
This results in overflowing landfills, clogged drains, polluted beaches, and worsening public health. Greenpeace reports that up to 40–60% of these clothes end up as waste. Vendors in Ghana complain that bales often contain stained, torn, or unusable items. The OR Foundation found that nearly 40% of textiles in Kantamanto become waste, with some burned and others dumped in unmanaged landfills.
Ghana is the world’s largest importer of secondhand clothing, bringing in over $214 million worth in 2021 alone. This trade provides an estimated 30,000 jobs in Kantamanto — from vendors and tailors to truck drivers and cleaners.
Despite the environmental crisis, Ghana has made no serious policy effort to reduce secondhand clothing imports. There’s been no ban, no sharp tariff hike, and no enforcement of anti-dumping measures, even though it’s legally permitted under WTO rules. Ghana depends deeply on this trade. Its domestic textile industry has collapsed under the pressure of cheap imports. Secondhand clothing is affordable for consumers, especially in low-income communities. And many government officials defend the trade, calling it part of Ghana’s economic “way of life.”
This reflects what scholars call dependency theory: Global South countries, shaped by colonial histories and IMF-backed liberalization, remain structurally reliant on the Global North — even when it harms them. In Ghana’s case, both policymakers and citizens are caught in a bind: imports are destructive, but also essential for survival.
Tanzania took a different route — at least initially. In 2016, it joined other East African Community (EAC) countries in a plan to ban second-hand clothing imports by 2019. The goal? Protect and rebuild local textile industries. To do so, Tanzania doubled import duties on used clothing and banned the import of certain items like used underwear. These were steps toward an Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) strategy — reducing reliance on foreign goods by strengthening domestic production.
But Tanzania faced major international backlash. The U.S. Trade Representative warned that this violated the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade deal offering duty-free access to U.S. markets. To preserve its AGOA benefits, Tanzania ultimately backed down and rescinded its full ban. Even so, Tanzania still maintains a 25% tariff on secondhand clothing — higher than Ghana’s 20% — and is more committed to industrial development through regional trade structures like AfCFTA.
In 2023, both Ghana and Tanzania signed onto AfCFTA’s protocol to reduce secondhand clothing imports across Africa. While promising on paper, enforcement remains uncertain — especially in Ghana. With little political will and high economic dependence, Ghana’s compliance is unlikely.
Civil society groups in Ghana are increasingly vocal. Greenpeace, the OR Foundation, and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly all advocate for tighter regulations or a partial ban. Yet, even these groups caution that a complete ban could harm livelihoods unless paired with serious investment in sustainable local textile production. In short, Ghana cannot simply stop importing secondhand clothing. But it can start demanding accountability from fast fashion producers, filtering out unusable garments, and investing in a circular, regenerative economy.
This crisis isn’t just about trade — it’s about power. The Global North overproduces, then dumps its waste onto the Global South. Environmental activist Hellen Kahaso Dena calls it “waste colonialism.” Ghana, she argues, is treated not as an equal trade partner, but as a landfill site for unwanted goods.
Until that changes — through stronger global regulations, producer responsibility laws, and investment in African industries — the pile of obroni wawu will only keep growing. We must address the root cause: a global system that values cheap clothes over sustainable lives.
Shailey Desai is a senior majoring in International Policy and Development. Her research focuses on global trade, postcolonial economics, and environmental justice in the Global South. She’s passionate about storytelling, fiber arts, and finding sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.
Leave a Reply