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Most of us who have grown up in the West have been taught the altruistic and compassionate deed of 'giving back' or donating clothing (amongst many other stuff) to charity or thrift shops because there are people in need. Up until a year ago, I myself believed donating clothing to charity was a good thing, because it means the things I no longer need or want can go to a place that gives it to people who truly need it. What I didn't know was the complexities and nuances of what donating clothing to a charity shop means and the problem it creates that goes unknown to the public.
THE ROOT OF WHY WE DONATE
Before we discuss the hidden truth of clothing donations, we must ask ourselves why we donate our clothes in the first place? More often than not, it's either no longer wanting our garments because we outgrew them, not into the style or simply because of overconsumption. Or it's because it's no longer wearable due damage or natural deterioration. To touch on the latter, why do we believe giving away clothing that has holes, stains or any other sort of damage is a good thing? Surely if we cannot use it, no one can? That is where things unfortunately become messy and entirely problematic.
(PERCEIVED) ALTRUISTIC DEED
It's no surprise humans have an intrinsic need to give back or commit to good deeds and actions because it makes us feel good and reassures and reaffirms that we are good people.
Giving back and donating to charity has been around since 2500 BCE, and a rise in charitable donations have increased over the years in Western cultures (Winspire). Typically, people donate to charities they have a connection to or because they empathize with the mission of a charity.
With the case of donating our used clothing, the initial reasonings are a bit different in the why we donate our clothes, in that it is not only the feeling we get from giving back to something greater, rather the feeling we get when we simply get rid of something we don't want--or, in the many recent cases, that in itself is the only reason why.
There is a preconceived notion we tend to believe in that there is a lack of clothing in the Global South and an excess of clothing in the Global North (which there is very much so), however the fact of the matter is that there is an excessive amount of clothing in the world, and those in the Global South do not need our unwanted clothing (Conscious Life and Style). I for one held this believe for a while until I learnt more about the fast fashion industry and the complexities it holds. It wasn't until learning and unlearning my own capitalistic and colonial ways of thinking that I have taken a critical look into my own actions and it has made things much more clearer ever since.
UNWANTED CLOTHES
To bridge off from the previous paragraph, the act of donating our used clothing has shifted from the notion of giving back to the relief of getting rid of unwanted clothing. We have often been led to believe that donating our clothing is the best option in wanting to get rid of unwanted clothes, because it will ultimately go to people in need, or will be sold at thrift stores (Conscious Life and Style). Unfortunately, the truth is often times majority of these clothing do not get sold at thrift stores as 85% end up overseas as textile waste (Huffpost Canada). Before we dive more into that, I want to touch on the notion of overconsumption and the role that plays into our constant need to donate clothes.
Overconsumption is nothing short of our current realities and the impact it has on the societal culture surrounding the act of donating. With the rise in trends and popular styles as well as the normalization of a throwaway culture (which I believe is definitely changing and shifting), it is incredibly easy to ditch what we currently have to get something new. When we are face with the problem of having too much and not knowing what to do with it, we decide to explore the option of donating instead of throwing it away in the garbage, as that is considered wasteful, as we've been told by the larger society. However this poses an even larger issue that goes unseen, as are a lot of issues we may think we understand. Waste in the global South...
WHERE OUR CLOTHING ENDS UP
(The average for exported overseas is most likely much more than recycled but is not updated)
Not here. Okay, there is a lot to go into this. When we donate our clothing, be it gently used or terribly damaged and beyond repair, there is a system charity shops go through to diligently sort out clothing. It either gets recycled or sold at the store it was donated to, or if not able to sell, it gets shipped overseas for it to be sold as secondhand. At least that's what they lead us to believe. Now, I will be speaking about the same issues I recently spoke about in the previous post on textile recycling programs, as it all leads to the same dead end.
TEXTILE RECYCLING
If clothing is not able to be sold at a thrift store, whether it's damaged with holes or is distressed, it is sent to a textile recycling waste facility. If you want to learn more about what this means and looks like, check out my previous post on this here. However, as we have now learnt through a critical lens on textile recycling programs/facilities, majority of clothing donated are not recycled and those that are are often energy intensive and create environmental concerns while in the process. Many textile recyclers will take a portion of the clothing that they don't believe will get sold [in the US], and package them in bundles to be sent overseas, typically in countries like Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda (Reader's Digest).
OUR LANDFILLS
As mentioned earlier in this post, only 15-25% of our donated clothing gets recycled or sold as secondhand in stores. "A staggering 85% of our collective apparel ends up in a landfill--that is over 10.5 million tons of clothing, according to secondhand store Value Village" (Huffington Post). What we're not aware of and made to know is that only 2% of textile waste is sent to our landfills or incinerated (burnt), with the remainder (approximately 85%) shipped overseas (Waste Reduction Week In Canada).
GLOBAL LANDFILLS
The remaining 85% of donated clothing gets shipped overseas to places like the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana where it will ultimately end up in landfill and increase the waste and hazardous pollution on their lands. Garments that are deemed unusable, whether it has mould or covered in oil or paint stains, are sent to landfill (CBC). They are not able to be processed recycled, thus these garments, along with other unwanted clothing, gets sold to markets abroad.
Approximately 700,000 tonnes of used clothing gets exported to other countries annually, which creates and poses multiple issues in their local textile markets, industries and economies (Green America).
THE COST OF LOCAL TEXTILE BUSINESSES
Sending unwanted textile waste overseas may seem like a solution for our local landfills and economy, but it isn't a solution that benefits those overseas for many reasons. With the increase of clothing exports to other countries, it effects local textile businesses by the high competition and reliance of the secondhand market (Green America). "The estimated cost of of a secondhand garment is as low as 5% the cost of a new garment made in Kenya, meaning local industries are unable to compete with the influx of cheap, used clothing (Green America). Local artisans and business owners are now in precarious situations and their livelihoods are at risk with the commodity of the secondhand market (Green America). The largest exporters to Ghana is the UK and then Canada, which treat these countries as a waste management, where in reality, a country like Ghana is known for their sustainability, in specific the creativity in upcycled clothing, amongst other things (Eco-Age).
WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS
It's no surprise at the fact that with the influx of textile waste exported from the Global North, it creates more harm than damage, specifically leading to an increase amount of waste, as well as pollution. To stick to the case of the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, textiles that are sent over is referred to as "Obroni Wawu", which in the Akan language means "Dead White Man's Clothes". These clothes are purchased in bales by market traders for $25 to $500 each and sent to the secondhand market, but because of the cheaply made fabrics or unusable condition they are in, they ultimately end up in landfill (US News). More so, a lot of the times these clothing don't make its way to landfills, rather gets swept into the open gutter system and then pushed into the sea (Eco-Age).
"40% of the clothing that is unbaled in Kantamanto leaves the market as waste, and the local government of Accra picks up 70 tonnes of clothing waste from Kantamanto every day" (Eco-Age). The 70 tonnes were being dumped in Kpone landfill until it started overflowing after four years in operation, and went up into flames in August of 2019 (Eco-Age).
In addition to that, Accra experiences life threatening floods every year that has become exacerbated by clothing waste, which occurs when clothing wraps itself into big knots, clogging the gutters and stopping the flow of water and waste (Eco-Age).
WASTE COLONIALISM
Photograph: Caner Ozkan/Greenpeace/PA
There is a power dynamic apparent between the Global North and the Global South, in which the Global North sees the Global South as a dumping ground of sorts, built on the notion that 'one's man trash is another mans treasure'. Displacing our messes and waste somewhere else for another to take responsibility for something that isn't theirs is waste colonialism. Colonialism plays a huge role in our economies, especially the fashion industry, and displacing and diverting our waste is a product of such. We are intentionally ignorant to this information as consumers and we may think donating clothing has no consequences or harm, but what it does is take the burden off of our shoulders and in turn, place it on someone else.
WHAT TO DO WITH UNWANTED CLOTHING?
This is something that may pose a moral dilemma and it probably should. We are often perplexed with the moral responsibility of giving away our clothes, whether that is straight to a donation center or straight to the bin. For the most part, the latter has been criticized as the impact of such action has far more consequences than otherwise. Or so we are taught. But what good does this do and what changes come from this if we continue our behaviours of consumerism and waste and trust in a solution for our actions in the form of a [donation] bin.
So, what are we to do with the unwanted clothes we have burdened ourselves with while diverting from perpetuating the notion of waste colonialism? If mending or upcycling it is out of the question, as activist and author Aja Barber said herself (with intent to make our waste our problem), bin in. If a piece of clothing is no longer in use to be worn and cannot be upcycled, throw it in the trash.
Mending and upcycling are the best ways you can expand the lifespan of unwanted clothing, especially if you have the ability and means to do so. However, majority of everyday folks either don't have the capacity or the skills to do so, which ultimately leads to the decision of giving away our clothing.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I had recently learnt through an Instagram post (and here) from Aja Barber about the truth of where our textile waste ends up and what a possible solution could be to stop putting the responsibility onto other communities. Our damaged clothing end up in someone else's backyard as someone else's problem, and that is a problem we need to address and solve. Once again, it stems from a colonial way of thinking that one mans trash is another mans treasure, which is why clothing donations are nothing more than a loophole that continues to feed consumerist behaviours in encouraging you to spend and buy more in exchange for your damaged, ripped, no-longer-in-use clothing, because if you don't want it, then someone else who is in need certainly will! No one wants our damaged goods as much as we are led to believe it's better than nothing. In trying to reduce our waste in our own environment, these companies and programs are not solving the issue, rather taking one less stress and guilt trip off of us so we can feel great about ourselves, and in return, increase someone else's waste where they can experience the burden of our waste, overconsumption, overproduction and frankly, cheaply and horribly made clothing.
By putting our textile waste and useless clothing in the trash, this will inevitably cause a problem for our recycling processing systems and will increase our environmental waste. And when our own systems finally see the damage and problems arising from our own waste, then and only then will we see a massive change and responsibility taken to combat and reduce our clothing production and manufacturing (or we like to hope). We are so used to having someone else in a different part of the world handle our own messes, but that is the problem we need to fix and by proving our systems in addressing our messes, we in turn confront and resist the colonialist and capitalist principles our fashion (and other industries) systems are built on.
YOU CAN STILL DONATE YOUR CLOTHING TO OTHER PLACES
Now, before you completely stop donating or giving away your clothing, it's important to take a critical look into how and when you should donate clothing in order to make better conscious decisions.
Organizations such as Value Village run as a for-profit company and as they are a larger enterprise, it is much more difficult to keep track of whe re our clothing ends up. It is valuable to do in-depth research into charitable organizations that actually use our clothing for good and give back to the community, which can be done by either reading into their policies or speaking to a representative there.
If you're not familiar or comfortable donating clothing to charity shops, a great place to donate your gently used clothes is at shelters, specifically who accept gently used clothing. More often than that, they would only accept clothing that is in decent condition as well, understandably so.
The rule of thumb is that if the garment is not fit for you to wear, they are most likely not fit for anyone else (Good On You). Donating gently used clothes in good condition is still a viable option, so as long as you vet the organization and learn of their processing and structure. However, it's when clothing is no longer useful or viable to wear that becomes an issue, as it's no longer supporting a mission or community, rather simply getting rid of your waste.
CONCLUSION
All that to say, giving away your clothes to a charity shop or donation drive isn't and shouldn't be the end of your worries. Our seemingly harmless actions may have consequences and we purposefully blinded to it.
It is important for us who have the privilege and the power to be critical of our actions and challenge the systems in place as well as cultural ideologies that continue to aid and abet colonial practices. Shifting the responsibilities to others is harmful and disastrous and it's time we instigate an internal wake up call, both for ourselves and the systems in place.
PS. Perhaps buying less in general will help minimize the need to donate in the first place ;)
SOURCES USED
(All resources/links are clickable)
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