Ghana, located on the southern coast of West Africa, has more than 500 kilometers of coastline that arcs and juts into bays and points. Along this coast are a multitude of surf spots for those willing to brave the bumpy roads in to find hidden gems along its edges. This coast, with its centuries of aquatic history, is facing a lethal problem: textile waste.
When people in the Western world donate clothes to charity, it feels like a solution to the problem of throwing out your old clothes. But, more often than not, in places like Europe, Australia, and the US, clothes donated to charity are exported to Africa where vendors can purchase bales of clothing at a low price and sell them in markets. Ghana imports about 15 million second-hand clothing items each week as part of this trade. But with the rise of fast fashion, the quality of these imports have decreased significantly, rendering almost half of them useless for resale. With nowhere further for their clothes to travel, they are dumped, ending up in waterways and along Ghana’s beaches.
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In 2024, Greenpeace released a report entitled Fast Fashion, Slow Poison that exposes the impacts of this waste. Greenpeace describes “Plastic Beaches” where these polyester-based clothes pile up, washed out of other waterways, taken out to sea and returned to the sand where they begin to break down into microplastics.
“Over time, the tides wash over the textiles on the beach, so that they become embedded and even buried in the sand, creating long ‘tentacles’ of textile waste which reach down beneath the sea’s surface,” the report states. Once these clothes become microplastics they are absorbed into the aquatic food web, bioaccumulation accounting for them eventually ending up being consumed by people in Ghana and elsewhere. This waste has adverse effects on the local fishing industry and once pristine surf spots have become sites of toxicity.
Ghana is home to a fledgling surf scene and empty waves
The report also describes the ironic life cycle of plastic bottles as pickers wander the waste collecting them to be recycled, shipped to China where it is shredded and used to make polyester clothing. This clothing is non-recyclable and eventually is returned to the dumping grounds of Ghana and other African countries.
“The situation in Ghana reflects a neocolonial mindset where the Global North profits from overproduction and waste, while countries like Ghana pay the price,” the report’s author Quashie-Idun said. “It’s time for a global treaty that addresses this imbalance and protects communities from the harm caused by fast fashion.”
This waste has adverse effects on the local fishing industry and once pristine surf spots have become sites of toxicity.
On January 1st, the biggest secondhand market in Ghana’s capital of Accra, Kantamanto Market, was burned to the ground with more than 8,000 traders losing their stalls. This was a site of innovation, with designers repurposing clothes to use in their own designs and finding ways to keep textiles out of the natural environment. An important organisation doing this work is THE REVIVAL, which “collects second-hand clothes that have been discarded, employs local craftsmen in Kantamanto and collaborates with fashion students from local universities as well as members of the public to participate in the creation of new outfits and art to give value to items tagged as ‘trash’”. THE REVIVAL has launched an online fundraiser to help rebuild Kantamanto Market.
In the last two decades, fast fashion has become a $2 trillion global industry. Despite the ever cheapening prices, the cost is incredibly high. Buying cheap clothes, wearing them once and donating them to charity is destroying the coastlines of countries like Ghana where a surf culture is only in its fledgling stage. Making a conscious choice to buy few, but good quality clothes made from natural materials to keep for a lifetime may be the best way surfers can be part of protecting this precious, undiscovered coast.
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