How robust is the evidence behind environmental claims in the second-hand clothing trade?

Much of the current momentum in textile policy is built on growing concern about the environmental consequences of global second-hand clothing flows. Underlying many of these discussions is a basic assumption: that large-scale trade in second-hand clothing contributes significantly to environmental harm in importing countries. But how well documented is that assumption?

Reliable data on the environmental impacts of global second-hand trade remain surprisingly limited. While a number of reports highlight visible waste challenges in major importing hubs, far fewer studies have been able to quantify the environmental effects of second-hand flows in a systematic way.

Field observations versus widely circulated imagery

In several high-profile cases, the narrative has been shaped as much by imagery as by data.

Reuse News has previously reported from locations frequently cited in the global debate about textile waste, including coastal areas in Ghana often portrayed as destinations for European clothing waste. Field reporting and photographic documentation from those locations did not support the widely circulated image of beaches overwhelmed by discarded garments. Instead, the dominant waste streams observed were plastics and other municipal waste.

This does not mean that textile waste problems do not exist. Markets handling large volumes of used clothing inevitably generate some unsold or low-value material that must be managed locally.

Coastal areas in Accra, Ghana is often portrayed as destinations for European clothing waste. Field reporting and photographic documentation from those locations does not support this narrative. Instead, the dominant waste streams observed were plastics and other municipal waste.

Textile waste and clothing consumption

But it is important to distinguish between different types of textile waste.

All garments, whether new or second-hand, eventually reach the end of their useful life. The presence of textile waste in a country therefore reflects overall clothing consumption and local waste management systems, not only the origin of the garments themselves.

Framing textile waste primarily as a consequence of second-hand imports risks obscuring this basic fact. If consumers in countries such as Ghana or Kenya were instead purchasing larger volumes of newly manufactured garments, often inexpensive ultra-fast-fashion products produced elsewhere, the same items would still eventually enter the waste stream once they reached the end of their life.

Scale and waste management systems

This raises a broader question about scale.

Clothing consumption levels in many African countries remain far below those seen in Europe or North America. Estimates of annual garment purchases in countries such as Kenya or Ghana are typically a fraction of European consumption levels, often less than one fifth.

That does not mean textile waste management is easy. Many cities across the Global South face serious challenges in managing municipal waste streams, including plastics, organic waste and other materials. Textile waste forms part of that broader system.

But available evidence suggests that textiles represent only a small share of overall urban waste streams in most cases. The environmental challenges facing these waste systems are therefore wider than textiles alone.

Evidence gaps in the second-hand clothing policy debate

Seen in this context, the environmental question may be less about whether second-hand clothing exists in local markets, and more about how waste management systems cope with end-of-life materials of all kinds.

Yet current regulatory debates increasingly frame second-hand trade itself as a central environmental problem.

As governments move to tighten export rules and redefine how used textiles are classified in global trade, the strength of the evidence behind that framing becomes increasingly important.

If second-hand clothing is becoming a central focus of textile regulation, how robust is the empirical foundation for treating it as a major environmental driver?

It is a question that remains far less settled than current policy debates might suggest.

Read more: The unresolved climate gap in textile policy

Why is textile policy focusing on the smallest part of the problem?