Five-feet-tall 'tentacles' of second-hand clothes are building up in Ghana's beaches, destroying fisheries

Ghana’s fishers are facing an odd problem. Despite continuing to extract hefty haul after haul from their oceans, the amount of fish actually caught is dwindling. A discerning peek into their nets would reveal a few fish, most likely entangled in wet bundles of unusable, discarded clothing.

Being the world’s largest importer of used clothing might seem like business is booming, but this achievement has quickly turned into a double-edged sword for Ghana, a phys.org feature reveals. Kantamanto market, a vast hub in the capital city Accra, imports a staggering 15 million garments weekly, with a jaw-dropping 40% ending up as waste.

Despite creating its fair share of jobs, a lack of proper waste management has raised alarms in Ghana’s second-hand clothing industry. The excess clothes are often burned, causing air pollution, or indiscriminately dumped in landfills, the report explains. In 2019, a Ghana landfill dump exceeded its capacity and broke into a disastrous fire after being swamped with tons of throwaway clothing.

And when these clothes aren’t blowing up landfills, they often end up polluting waterways, harming aquatic life, and creating piles of textile waste on beaches. Accra's shores, once pristine sand, can now be seen choked by literal five-feet-tall "tentacles" of entangled clothes, posing a major ecological threat to the region.

And as expected, Ghana’s fishers often bear the brunt of this pollution. Their nets snag on discarded clothes, damaging them and hindering their ability to catch fish. This threatens their livelihoods and food security, a significant social by-cost of the region’s “booming” clothing business.

However, addressing this issue can be tricky for the Ghanaian government. While a total ban might trigger job losses, stricter regulations, promoting recycling and incineration for energy generation, and investing in proper waste management infrastructure are crucial steps the nation needs to take to sustainably grow their clothing industry, and minimise any further damage to local ecology.

While it might have its nets full, clothing waste isn’t just a Ghana problem. The production of textile itself guzzles precious resources, with the industry being a major consumer of water and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Dyes and chemicals used in processing are notorious for polluting waterways, while landfills overflowing with synthetic fabrics can take centuries to decompose. Even when they do decay, they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, while potentially leaching harmful chemicals into the soil and water. There is an urgent need for a shift towards more sustainable practices in the fashion industry and our individual consumer habits.