Textile waste from fashion shops and imported second-hand clothing in the Greater Kumasi Sub-Region of Ghana: A call for policy change

Abstract

• Mean weight of textile waste from fashion shops (TW) was 1.07 kg/d/shop, respectively. • Second-hand clothing (SHC) bales generated 23.8% of their weight as textile waste. • The TW comprised 44% cotton, 23% polyester, 18% silk, 12% nylon, and 0.3% linen. • TW from SHC bales associated with the country of origin and clothing type. The failure to manage solid waste (SW) in Ghana has dire consequences for the environment and human health. Ghana imports large quantities of second-hand clothing (SHC), many of which arrive in poor and unusable states. The country also has a rich culture that is celebrated by adorning locally fashioned garments. With such a significant textile proportion in the SW produced, it is essential to quantify the textile waste (TW) generated from fashion shops and SHC bales to urge the textile industry towards a circular economy. This cross-sectional study surveyed 621 fashion shops and 279 SHC bales in the Greater Kumasi Sub-Region. The mean weight of TW was 9.02 Kg/shop, the generation rate was 1.07 Kg/shop/d. TW from SHC bales was 23.8% of the bale’s weight. TW comprised 43.8% cotton, 22.9% polyester, 17.6% silk, 12.2% nylon and 3.5% other. Whilst SHC traders gifted (5.4%) or resold (88.9%) their waste due to its monetary value to them, fashion designers disposed of TW by burning (23.4%) or dumping (13.0%) them using municipal solid waste management systems. The TW generated is associated with bale origin, garment type, fashion designer’s age, experience, gender and educational levels. Implications are the need for innovative recycling technologies to incorporate the vast quantities of TW from fashion shops into new products, targeted education of fashion worker to change their view of off-cuts from waste to a resource, and dedicated containers for TW collection to be placed at vantage points. The policy on the importation of SHC bales should be revised to include quality checks at the port of entry, allowing customs officials to inspect a sample of bales, to curb the arrival of TW in Ghana.