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What looks like textile waste, is actually not. It's plastic.

The amazing story about the mountains of textile waste in Ghana. Mountains that doesn´t exist, but nevertheless have been broadcasted all around the world as a major problem. Unfortunately these claims has also influenced policymakers and politicians within the EU, which has led to new regulations that actually threatens the circular system of clothes.

The NGO behind the textile waste narrative and the millions of dollar that followed.

For years, policymakers, journalists and campaigners have repeated claims that up to 40 percent of second-hand clothing imported into Ghana becomes waste.

The claims originated with the OR Foundation, a Ghana-based NGO that has become one of the most influential voices in the global textile waste debate. Despite being widely cited, the figure has never been independently verified and remains heavily contested.

What happens when an unverified and disputed claim becomes the foundation for international policy? As the debate over textile waste in Africa continues, support is growing for new regulations that could reshape the global trade in used clothing. The question is whether policymakers are addressing a real problem or an imagined one, and putting one of the world's largest circular textile systems at risk along the way.

How an unverified claim became a global truth.

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