An environmental group has urged government to ban the importation of second hand clothes, popularly known as “foss,” “bend down boutique,” or “obroni wawu” in Ghana.
These second hand clothes mainly imported into the country from the western world, according to the Pan-African Plastics Project, has many environmental and health risks to its users.
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The risks of importing these textile waste and second hand clothes, which frequently contains dangerous chemicals that can contaminate soil and water, disrupt ecosystems, and harm public health, were brought up by Project Lead of the Pan-African Plastics Project, Hellen Kahaso Dena, during the launch of a report titled “Fast Fashion, Slow Poison: The Toxic Textile Crisis in Ghana,” at an organised by Greenpeace Africa in Accra.
Dena said the country is “drowning in fast fashion waste,” and urged government to immediately ban these second hand clothes and promote local textile production industries.
She added that most second hand clothes imported are in fact waste and unusable products intentionally tagged as second hand clothes to avoid waste exports regulations.
She noted that Africa has become a dumping ground for these second hand clothes and condemned the practice because of its dangerous effects on the environment and public health.
“We want the government to enact laws ensuring only re-sellable and usable clothing is imported,” Dena noted.
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Additionally, she wants the western world to take responsibility for these damages through the implementation of the “Polluter Pays Principle.”
7.5 million articles of old clothing arrive at Kantamanto Market in Accra each week.
