Aftonbladet magazine found evidence that Swedish clothing giant H&M’s recycling partners have dumped clothes in Ghana.
Swedish Aftonbladet magazine according to customs documents seen, H&M’s recycling partners have exported a total of 314,000 kilos of clothes to Ghana this year, which is equivalent to around one million pieces of clothing.
Ghana in West Africa is one of the world’s largest of used clothing importers. At least 15 million items of clothing enter the country per week.
Some of the clothes end up being sold, but most of them are quickly dumped.
Textile waste has become a huge environmental problem. A large part of the clothes coming from Europe are not suitable for sale or recycling, but the textiles ultimately end up in the environment.
In the capital, Accra, waste management is in great difficulty and clothes can even be found in the sea and on the seabed in front of the city.
“Challenges in recycling”
The head of waste management in Accra interviewed by Aftonbladet Solomon Noi says that importing clothes into Ghana is largely Europe’s way of getting rid of its waste.
– I think fashion chains like H&M should pay for the problems caused by their clothes, Noi said.
H&M responded to Aftonbladet in writing and said that it is absolutely against clothes ending up as waste. At the same time, the company admitted that there are “challenges” associated with recycling clothes and textiles.
Read more: For half a year, MOT followed the used clothes all the way to Africa with the help of transmitters
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