The more we repeat a lie, the truer it seems

When I was tasked a year ago with delving into whether the export of second-hand clothing to African countries is, in fact, dumping of textile waste, I could never have dreamed what I would uncover. Right from the start, it sounded a little odd. Why would anyone pay tax and customs to import goods that can’t then be sold? And what forces in Europe would benefit from transporting waste to another continent when it would be far cheaper to incinerate it?

It is undoubtedly a fraught issue—at least in those parts of the textile industry and environmental movement engaged with questions of waste management, circularity, and the climate crisis. It is sometimes described as a debated issue. But it is clear that the narrative “Europe is dumping its unwanted clothes in African countries” dominates the conversation.

Countless stories in major international media and the haunting images of clothes washed up on Ghana’s beaches have seared themselves into the minds of many Europeans and also in African countries.

As a journalist, it’s hard to let go of the question once it takes hold of your mind. What is really going on here?

So we did what one should do: We tried to trace the reports and statistics back to their sources, then assess the quality of those sources and the evidence behind their claims. We reviewed the academic research in the field. What does it say, and can we draw any clear conclusions from it? Finally, we decided to travel to the places where these images originate—to assess for ourselves, with our own eyes, what is actually going on.

All in all, it quickly became clear:

• There is no evidence that the import of second-hand clothing into Ghana is generating the volumes of textile waste claimed

• There are academic studies that paint an entirely different picture

• When we were on the ground ourselves, we were struck by how much waste there actually is—and how much of what appears to be textiles is in fact not

So how has the situation come to this? One reason is that many issues in life are often more complex than they appear at first glance. What, after all, is the definition of textile waste? And surely textile waste is a problem in many countries—that no one can deny?

We will attempt to answer these questions and more in our upcoming reports on “The Elusive Truth Behind the Second-Hand Export Debate”.

Stay tuned!

Thomas Lundkvist Managing Editor Reuse News

Read more: The elusive truth behind the second-hand export debate