Poisoned Gifts
From donations to the dumpsite: textiles waste disguised
as second-hand clothes exported to East Africa

A Greenpeace Germany Report
Authors and research
Madeleine Cobbing
Sodfa Daaji
Mirjam Kopp
Viola WohlgemuthContributors
Hellen Kahaso Dena and Greenpeace Africa
Timo Dreher
Anne Hüttemann
Merle Zils

Imprint
Greenpeace e. V., Hongkongstraße 10, 20457 Hamburg, Phone +49 40 3 06 18  -  0 Press Office Phone +49 40 3 06 18  -  340, F +49 40 3 06 18-340, presse@greenpeace.de ,www . greenpeace . de V.i.S.d.P. Viola Wohlgemuth Contributors Hellen Kahaso Dena and Greenpeace Africa, Timo Dreher, Anne Hüttemann, Merle Zils
Authors/Research Madeleine Cobbing, Sodfa Daaji, Mirjam Kopp, Viola Wohlgemuth Photos Kevin McElvaney, Andri Tambunan (p. 5 left), Daniel Müller (p. 6 right),
all © Greenpeace Production Ute Zimmermann Graphics Jannika Nowak Layout Klasse 3b

S 0396 1 04 / 2022

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network of organisations that acts to change
attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.

3

Poisoned Gifts
From donations to the dumpsite:
textiles waste disguised as second-handclothes exported to East Africa
Introduction

4

Background: fast fashion fuels trade of used clothes
and dumping of textile waste

5

From donation to dumpsite: the journey of used clothes

5

An overview of “Mitumba” in the
East African Community Partner States

8“Mitumba” in Kenya and Tanzania

10

Negative impacts of textile waste on people
and the environment

11

East African solutions in action

12

Greenpeace recommendations and demands

13

Conclusion

14

4

Introduction
Global fashion brands are promoting circularity, but reality
shows that this is still a myth. Nowhere is the failure of the fast
fashion linear business model more visible than in the countries where many of these cheap clothes end up once their short
lives are over: on huge dump sites, burnt on open fires, along
riverbeds and washed out into the sea, with severe consequences for people and the planet. Greenpeace Germany went to
Kenya and Tanzania to witness the problem of imported textile
waste in these countries and to find out about some of themany local initiatives trying to counter it through their own
means. In this briefing, we reveal the role played by imported
used clothes called “Mitumba” in East Africa, and how much of
it is of such poor quality that it goes straight to the dumpsite.

5

Background: fast fashion fuels trade ofused clothes and dumping of textile waste

From donation to dumpsite:
the journey of used clothes

The fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global
greenhouse gas emissions1 and is a major cause of waterpollution worldwide,2 with over 80% of its supply chain
impacts on the environment taking place in Global South
countries where the majority of clothes are manufactured.3 But
this isn’t even the only serious consequence of the fast fashionindustry on the Global South, vast quantities of polluting textile
waste from the fast fashion industry is increasingly making its
way to Global South countries. Because of these massive
negative impacts on the environment, “circularity” has become
the buzzword among global fashion brands trying to clean up
their image. But circularity is virtually non-existent in the
fashion industry; while less than 1% of clothes are recycled into
new clothes, garment production volumes are growing by 2.7%
annually. 4 Every second a truckload of garments is burnt or
sent to landfill.5 If anything, the destructive fast fashion fad is
speeding up, not slowing down. The Guardian reports that new
players on the market like Shein are now pushing an “ultra fast
fashion’” linear business model which is built on environmental
and social exploitation.6

Unfortunately, it is still not mandatory to report what happens
to used clothes and textile waste anywhere in the world, andtherefore the following summary is based on the little data thatis provided on a voluntary basis.
In Germany alone, about 1 million tonnes of used clothes arecollected every year. Since the middle of the 1990s the volume
of clothes collected every year has grown by 20% and keeps
growing along with the ever increasing speed of fast fashion.7
But only a small amount of used clothes are actually resold in
the country where they were collected: about 10–30% in the
UK and similar proportions in the US and Canada.8 Most ofthem end up being exported overseas. For example, out of the
11,000 tonnes of clothing donated to Oxfam in the UK every
year, 3,000 tonnes (27%) is sold in its shops. Of the remaining
8,000 tonnes, 1,000 tonnes are disposed of and 5,600 tonnes(half of that donated) head abroad to Eastern Europe and Eastand West Africa. It is estimated that more than 70% of all UK
reused clothing heads overseas – joining a global second-handtrade in which billions of old garments are bought and soldaround the world every year.9
The global trade in second-hand clothing grew ten-fold between
1990 and 2004 to reach a value of around $1 billion,10 and themarket value of second-hand clothes was $36 billion in 2021,
projected to grow to $77 billion by 2025.11 In 2020 the biggest
net exporters of used clothes were the United States ($585M
net trade value), China ($366M net trade value), United
Kingdom ($272M net trade value), Germany ($258M net tradevalue)12 and South Korea ($256M). On the other hand thebiggest net importers were Ghana ($181M net trade value),
Ukraine ($154M net trade value), Nigeria ($123M net tradevalue), Kenya ($122M net trade value), and Tanzania ($102M
net trade value).13

After years of Greenpeace’s successful Detox My Fashion
campaign, global brands have started cleaning up their supply
chains – now it‘s time to also shed light on what‘s happening toclothes after they have been produced, and put the problem oftextile waste exports on the global agenda.
This briefing demonstrates how textile waste is often “disguised” as second-hand clothing and exported from the Global
North to the Global South, to avoid the responsibility and costsof dealing with the problem of disposable clothes. While theseexported used clothes and even brand new ‘overproduced’
clothes are mostly reported and recorded as “reused”, in fact
nearly half of them end up in dumpsites, rivers or are burnt in
the open.

6

Before being exported, the used clothes are usually sold to acommercial clothing sorter or recycler. From an economic
perspective, only about half of these clothes can still bepotentially reused as clothing, the rest end up being downcycled (eg. used for rags, insulation, raw material for otherindustries) or thrown away. Available data varies depending on
the recycler. About 45–60% is exported for reuse, about
25–50% is downcycled and officially 5–10% is waste.14
But this data does not consider that some of the clothes thatare exported for “reuse” will also end up as waste, because
they have no market value in the country that imports them.
Either they are not adequate (sizes that don’t fit, or not usefuldue to the local climate), their quality is too poor, or they arebroken or soiled and exporting them is just a cheap way to get
rid of them. No official data is available on how much of theexported second-hand clothes is actually waste. As an example,
in Ghana, some 15 million used garments pour into the capital
Accra every week from the UK, Europe, North America andAustralia, flooding the city’s sprawling clothing market. An
estimated 40% are of such poor quality they are deemedworthless on arrival and end up dumped in a landfill. Thismeans that about 6 million garments leave Kamanto Market
every week as waste.15
In addition to these incredible amounts of textile waste that are
being exported in shipments of “used clothes”, there is the
problem of overproduction: a huge and unknown amount ofclothing that is destroyed or dumped before it is even sold toconsumers in the Global North. A recent report calling for an
EU ban on this practice estimates that if all clothing andelectronics shipments destroyed in Europe in 2020 were lined
up one after the other, they would reach around the circumference of the Earth one and a half times, potentially rising to 6
times around the Earth by 2030.16

A successful campaign by Greenpeace Germany resulted in aban on the destruction of unsold and returned goods being
integrated into the German circular economy law in 2020,
including a transparency obligation requiring large companies
to publicly disclose the number of products they discard anddestroy, including textiles.17 Pressure from many environmentalgroups including Greenpeace has now resulted in a new EU
textile strategy released in March 2022 which plans to introduce a ban on the destruction of products and also proposes atransparency obligation.18

7

Figure 1 p From donation to dumpsite

GLOBAL NORTH TO EAST AFRICA
The flow of second hand clothes and clothes waste from the Global North to East Africa

PART I : From Global North consumer to export
Consumer brings clothes to acharity, a brands take backbox, or a municipal recycling
stationConsumer

About 10– max 30% is resoldin the country of collection insecond hand shops

Up to 90% is sold to commercial recyclers/textile merchants
25-50% of this is downcycled(eg wiping rags, raw materials
for other industries)

5-10% of this is waste

45% to 60% of
this is exported

PART II : From arrival in East Africa to consumer or dumpsite

1

East African ports

2

Inland container depot

3

GodownBales are exported toinland countries

4

Warehouse

30-40% can‘t be sold5

Big Mitumba markets

6

Mitumba consumer
markets

Containers areexported to otherinland African countries

Dumping ofwaste in theenvironment

Downcycling

Consumer

Finishers:
ironing and tailoring

Dumping ofwaste in theenvironment

Import into East African
ports

Containers are openedat the Godown

Bales are transported toWarehouse

Bales are opened at Big
Mitumba markets (eg.
Gikomba, Kenya)(eg. Toi Toi, Kenya)

7

Downcycling
Unknown amount can‘t be soldStreet sellers

8

An overview of “Mitumba”
in the East African
Community Partner States19
Used and second-hand clothes exported to Africa are known
locally as “Mitumba”, a Kiswahili word meaning bale or bundle,
because it is typically sold to retailers in bales. Mitumba also
refers to the export of second-hand clothes that have been
donated by consumers in Western countries and “collected andpackaged by textile recycling companies”. 20 It is said that theterm Mitumba started to be used in the 1980s, while in the past
the used clothes were called “Kafa Ulaya,”21 meaning “clothes
from someone who died in Europe”. 22 Mitumba can also include
brand new clothes that have been overproduced by fashion
brands but left unsold, due to unprecedented fast changing
trends as well as the impact of COVID on the fashion industry,where there was no market for containers full of new clothing
during the early stages of the pandemic.

Is this increase in used clothes imports useful for African
people and countries, or is it problematic? Undoubtedly, there isa demand in Africa for affordable and trendy clothes, andimported second-hand garments are more affordable comparedto new clothes which are perceived as expensive but notoffering equivalent value in terms of quality.28 Nevertheless,quality is one of the main challenges when assessing Mitumba:
a consistent portion of the clothing in imported bales is suchpoor quality29 that it is immediately dumped in landfills, often
in the open air.30
Whereas the common narrative is that donating clothes is acircular means of dealing with clothing waste, contributing to acircular economy, there are concerns being raised questioning
this. For example, “the trade has been called “charity”, “recycling”, “diversion” and now many people call it “circular”, but noneof these labels is accurate. Simply moving clothing from one place
to another does not make it circular. Where initially these clothes
would end up in dumpsites in the West, they now end up indumpsites in Africa”. 31

Mitumba came to the African continent in the late 1980s, at atime when the local textile industry was booming, and hightariffs protected home grown garment and other businesses.
However, with economic liberalisation programmes in the early
1990s, tariffs were lowered, and as a result, the textile industry
had to contend with new competition.23 The structural adjustment programmes and liberalisation policies that hit Africancountries from the 1980s onwards led to “both the decline of the
textile and garment industry in Africa and the increased imports
of Secondhand Clothes”. 24

With mitumba continuing to drive the demand for usedclothes, this has been at expense of locally made products andlocal textile industries, which are unable to satisfy the market
and meet the demand for ‘trendy’ clothes. As a result, the East
African Community (EAC) agreed in 2016 to a complete ban onused clothes imports by 2019. The argument behind the ban
was to give a boost to local textiles manufacturing and help the
economy.

Since the mid-2000s, the doubling of the number of garmentspurchased by the average consumer in the West, according to
the Global Fashion Agenda’s Pulse Report,25 led to risingvolumes of second-hand clothing ending up in markets in
Africa. As a result, it is currently estimated that at “Ghana’s
Kamanto market, around 15 million items of used clothing from
Western countries arrive every week.” 26 In East Africa, Kenya is
the major importer of second-hand clothes and imported
approximately 185,000 tons of used clothing in 2019.27

However, the ban was challenged by the US as a blockage offree trade and threatened possible trade penalties, including
losing eligibility for duty-free clothing exports to the US
market, under the US African Growth and Opportunity Act32(AGOA).33
The reaction from East African states to Washington’s challenge
to the used clothing imports ban was divided. Rwandanpresident Paul Kagame reiterated that “Rwanda and othernations under AGOA have to do other things, we have to grow oureconomies and industries”,34 while the President of Uganda,
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, emphasised that “the time had come9

for the region to begin discarding the importation of second-handclothes. (…) Uganda is spending over 880 million Dollars annuallyon textiles coming from outside the region”.35
Kenya, on the other hand, signalled at first that it would notrespect the deadline of the ban due to lack of capacity to meetboth the domestic and export demand for textile.36 Later, thecountry withdrew from the 2016 agreement completely,
following US threats.

such as Kenya and Tanzania are not considered in the linear
business model of fashion today. Because much of the clothingis plastic which does not degrade easily, and may containhazardous chemicals, this will be creating a long term problem
that is difficult to clean-up. Past experience of water pollution
in rivers around the world shows the immense difficulties –
technical, economic and political – of cleaning up hazardous
chemicals after release, including the very high expense ofrestoration programmes and the impossibility of total decontamination. 40

To get around the difficulties in implementing the ban, Uganda,
Rwanda and Tanzania37 have raised the tax on imported clothes
with the aim of protecting the region’s textile industry.38
However, this has also been met with challenges, including
consignments of used clothes lying uncollected at the port ofMombasa after the importers failed to comply with the new duty
requirements,39 leading governments to further ease Mitumba
import restrictions, acknowledging it as a critical part of theregional economy.

There is no doubt that Mitumba contributes to the economy of
the East African Community Partner States, specifically for thecountries that haven’t implemented the ban on second-hand
import clothes, as part of the “East African Community’s Vision
2050” aiming at enhancing the regional manufacturing sector.
Whereas some countries, including Uganda, Rwanda andTanzania, have raised taxes for used clothes and offered
incentives to manufacturers to invest in local textile sectors,
there are still concerns that local factories will not be able toscale up in time to meet the deficit created by the ban.
Despite the effort in investing in local textiles, the main
problem that remains underestimated is the impact of overproduction and textile waste being exported from the Global North
to Africa. The fast fashion business model relies on neverending growth and the ever faster consumption of “disposable”
fashion, which is currently reliant on the Global South becoming a regional dumpsite for the growing mountains of
discarded clothing. The current and future environmental,
health and economic impacts of overflowing landfills and waste
clothing and footwear strewn across the landscape in countries

As a result, the Global North undoubtedly has a waste problem
and is perpetuating a legacy of waste colonialism, as textiles
waste exports are “tied to historical colonising practices, where
high-income nations exercise their privilege and power to attaintheir goals while undermining the rights of low-income communities to a clean and safe living condition”.41 Colonialism is not
only a force for shaping geopolitics, but its influence can bedetected in the fashion industry over the decades, through thepositioning of second-hand clothing exports as a way to help
low-income countries rather than a convenient way to offload
the problems of overproduction and overconsumption onto the
Global South, along with the risks and the consequences ofenvironmental pollution and damage to human health.

10“Mitumba” in Kenya and Tanzania
With 185,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes imported in
2019, 42 Kenya is the largest hub in East Africa, providing thegovernment with revenues from customs duties and creatingjobs. 43 Mitumba has been instrumental in creating employment
in developing countries, including Kenya and Tanzania. In
Kenya, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)
Manpower Survey, mitumba traders fall under the second-handclothing and footwear industry which employs an estimated 10%of the extended labour force.44
The Mitumba industry is therefore an important part of
Kenya’s economy, with imports of second-hand clothes in the
country constituting about 1% of all imports’ monetary value, 45
corroborated by the Leading Economic Indicators of January2022 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
With a large proportion of the high volumes of imported
second-hand clothes and footwear being unusable and immediately ending up as waste, it is essential to examine and identify
the lead countries of export and the cycle of second-handclothes. The domestic demand for good quality second-handclothes among the Kenyan population also needs to be considered. At first, second-hand clothes were preferred because they
were inexpensive, but more recently there has been an increasein demand for trendy styles from people of all socio-economic
classes. 46

A study by Textile Value Chain shows China as the leading
exporter, followed by Pakistan, Canada, and the United
Kingdom, with the smallest amounts from the United ArabEmirates and South Korea. 47 This data is partly corroborated by
the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 48 which shows themain exporters as China, India, Saudi Arabia, United ArabEmirates, United States, South Africa, Germany, United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France. Not all of thesecountries represent the original source of the clothes, because
large amounts of used clothes from Europe and North America
are reprocessed in India and Pakistan and re-exported to
Africa. 49

The Port of Mombasa is the main port of entry for second-handclothes in Kenya, and the value-chain from the Port to theconsumer is outlined in the report by the Institute of Economic
Affairs on second-hand clothes and footwear trade in Kenya.50
The relevance of Mitumba to Kenya’s economy is not only due
to imports of second-hand clothes, but also their export toneighbouring countries, including Tanzania.
The Mitumba industry is also relevant in the United Republicof Tanzania, not just due to the imports of second-hand clothes
from neighbouring Kenya: according to a 2017 report,51 it isestimated that out of 720 million pieces of clothing consumed in
Tanzania annually, 540 million pieces are second-hand. (…) These
clothes are imported from countries such as the USA, Germany,
and Australia, as well as China, India, and the United ArabEmirates. While the Dar Es Salaam Port is the main port ofentry for containers from overseas, Mitumba is exported from
Kenya over the Namanga Border.
The value-chain of Mitumba in Tanzania is similar to the one
for Kenya (see Figure 1): brokers oversee the coordination anddistribution of garments in the different markets across Dar Es
Salaam, Moshi, and Arusha. The big retailers are then responsible for selling to retailers and consumers. What is missing inthis presentation of the value-chain is, potentially, the role ofsocial media and how this has changed the way Mitumba issold and bought. Another missing piece is any assessment of
the damage that it causes once it becomes waste and is dumped
in landfills such as Dandora in Nairobi, Kenya and Pugu
Kinywamwezi in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

11

Negative impacts of textile wasteon people and the environment
The huge amounts of textile waste that countries like Tanzania
and Kenya are flooded with on a daily basis have severe
consequences for people and the environment. In Kenya,
185,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes were imported in 2019,52
and according to Afrika collect textiles and other local sources
local sources, 30–40% of Mitumba is of such bad quality that it
cannot be sold anymore. This means that 55,500 to 74,000
tonnes of it was actually textile waste. This amounts to about
150–200 tonnes of textile waste a day.
Up to 69% of the fibres used in clothes are synthetic (mainly
polyester) and are therefore oil-based,non-biodegradable
plastic.53 After disposal, these microplastic fibres continue toleach into the environment and finally end up in the humanfood-chain. Microplastic fibres are also released into the air byburning the clothes. In the latest studies, microplastics havebeen found in the gastrointestinal tract54, blood55 and lungs56 ofhumans. Especially troubling is the fact that unexpectedly large
fibres were found in lungs. Plastic clothes waste will accumulate in the local environment and add to the existing plastics
waste crisis in these countries – aggravated by the sheer
amounts of textile waste.
There is no infrastructure to dispose of these massive amountsof textile waste, and official dump sites have been overflowing
for years. This leads to textile waste being dumped everywhere,

along rivers or at settlement borders. Some of it is burned
openly, which can lead to health problems for the people living
nearby, and the clogging of rivers and drains can lead to floods.
The decomposing clothes release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change; synthetic fabrics
like polyester and lycra can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. In addition, many clothes contain hazardous chemicals,
used during the production process.57

12East African solutionsin action
Considering the serious impact of textile waste in Africancountries, as outlined for Tanzania and Kenya, it is also
inspiring to see many examples of creative designers andcommunity organisers who are addressing overconsumption bysensitising and empowering their respective communities. The

following is a brief summary of case studies to show how
people in Kenya and Tanzania are creating positive solutions
and developing their own form of circularity. These examples
and the stories from the people working on them send a strong
message to fashion brands and the EU, and should be an
inspiration for an alternate approach based on the practicalexperience of innovations for the reuse, upcycling and repurposing of used clothes which are already in the system, rather
than newly made clothing or attempts at recycling.

Anne Kiwia – Tanzania
Anne Kiwia, under the motto “Every Queen deserves a Crown”,
designs headbands from second-hand textiles (Mitumba), while
supporting women’s empowerment through upcycling fashion.
www.annekiwia.com
Background at @makemsthng

Suave – Kenya
An upcycling bag company inspired by Gikomba market,
where clothes are brought to seek new life against the waste
in landfills.
www.global.suavekenya.com
Background at @makesmthng

Mama Hokororo – Tanzania
Marilyn “Mama” Hokororo is the founder of Afrikan Wear Design
Arusha, a charity organisation specialising in arts and crafts
based in Arusha. The organisation hires women and people withdifferent abilities with the intention to empower them.
www.afrikanwear.com
Background at @makesmthng

African Collect Textile – Kenya
Collects used textiles for reuse and recycling. Through theirwork, they are kickstarting a circular economy for textiles.
This is done by diverting used textiles and footwear from thelandfills, and by supporting the environment and creating jobs.
www.africacollecttextiles.com
Background at @makesmthng

13Greenpeace
recommendations
and demands
The fast fashion trend has turned clothes into throwaway items
like disposable packaging. To stop the flow of textile waste
being dumped on the Global South, there is no way around theneed to massively slow down fast fashion. Global fashion
brands need to completely change their linear business models
and become service providers instead of only producers. They
need to start producing fewer clothes that are designed to bebetter quality, long lasting, repairable and reusable and takeresponsibility for establishing take-back systems and services tomaintain, repair and share items of clothing.
Greenpeace Germany’s latest report “Self-regulation: a fashion
fairytale” has clearly demonstrated that while there is a trend
for global fashion brands to talk about circularity, very few ofthem actually have effective measures in place to become
circular and even less or none of them are taking steps to slow
down the flow of materials. This is why global regulation isnecessary and the report explains in detail the key points thatare needed (see Part 1, section 3 for details).
Recently the new EU textile strategy has been approved andafter many years of pressure from environmental groups it
finally addresses some of these key points, such as:

1. A vision that “by 2030 textile products placed on the EU
market are long-lived and recyclable, to a great extent madeof recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances andproduced in respect of social rights and the environment”.
2. Plans for binding requirements on durability, recyclability,
repair and reuse
3. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes that will
be dedicated to waste prevention measures and preparing
for reuse
4. Commitment to develop specific EU level criteria to makea distinction between waste and certain second-hand
textile products to avoid waste being labelled as secondhand goods, and thereby preventing companies sidestepping the EU’s proposal for tighter rules on exporting
textile waste to non-OECD countries.
5. A proposal for a transparency obligation, requiring large
companies to publicly disclose the number of products they
discard and destroy, including textiles, and the intention to
introduce a ban on the destruction of products, including as
appropriate, unsold or returned textiles. However, thedefinition of what is “appropriate” or not has not been madeclear yet.
6. Commitment to introduce a “Digital Product Passport for
textiles based on mandatory information requirements on
circularity and other key environmental aspects”. But
unfortunately full supply chain mapping and facility
disclosure is not included.

Figure 2 p Fashion waste hierarchy

FASHION WASTE HIERARCHYMa

AVOID AND REDUCE

ise
xim

SLOW THE FLOW of materials, no overproduction
Low impact supply chain (eg. natural organic andrecycled fibres, renewable energy)
No plastic fibres or mixed materials
Clean manufacturing – Standards that aim to Detox
Using cutting waste
Making quality durable clothes

he–t

CLOSE THE LOOP – circular and cradle to cradle design
Repair – Use clothes longer
EXPORT
Reuse – second hand, renting, sharing(only
resellable
textiles)Take back systems

new

REUSE

no
rm

Upcycle – make a different product
Recycle the material to new textiles – retain the value
Downcycle – value is reducedal

RECYCLE

Energy – biogas from composting
Energy – from incineration

RECOVER

Hazardous chemical residues– from production– in clothing products – need for Detoxed manufacturing (see avoid and reduce)

TREAT

oid
Av

DISPOSE– fromLandfill
Incineration

EXPORT

waste export should be prohibited by law

14

Unfortunately it does not include:
7. A strategy to Detox the textiles supply chain and prevent
chemical pollution of Global South waterways.
8. A phase out of synthetic fibres in the production of textiles;
products should be biodegradable and compostable (Cradle
to Cradle) and free from hazardous chemicals to preventend of life impacts.
We welcome the positive developments in the EU textile
strategy, but for them to be successful they need to be implemented effectively on the ground through legally binding
measures. These measures also need to be developed globally:
International legislation needs to be established through a
global treaty, similar to the Paris Convention on climatechange and the recently agreed UNEA plastics treaty, thatwould implement the aims of the EU textiles strategy
globally, as well as the additional points mentioned above(7 & 8) which are not included.
From the perspective of Greenpeace, to improve the situationin countries like Kenya and Tanzania, this means that thefollowing key demands are the most relevant and need to be
implemented first:
Only the export of used clothes that can actually be reused
as wearable clothing should be allowed; the export of textile
waste from the Global North should be banned.
A guarantee that any unusable imported used clothing canbe sent back to the country of origin.
Extended Producer Responsibility legislation including a
global tax on each product when it is placed on the market
to fund the separate collection of textiles which is environmentally sound, to enable the professional reuse andrecycling of textiles.
This tax should also integrate the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle– ie. the producer is made financially responsible for thecost of cleaning up the environmental and health damage
caused throughout the supply chain, regardless of thegeographical extent of the damage
The phase out of synthetic fibres (8 above) needs to be
implemented as soon as possible to prevent them ending up
in the environment in the Global South.
Transparency on the materials clothes are made of (eg. theDigital Passport proposed by the EU for textiles should bein the form of a QR code printed on the product that
contains the necessary information), which is not easily
removed by users or recyclers.
Finally, there needs to be a shift away from neocolonial
attitudes of Global North countries towards those in the Global
South, which impose trading practices which are mainly
beneficial for the Global North. This effectively turns Global
South countries into dumping grounds for fashion industry
waste, while doing little or nothing to support or develop theclean manufacturing of local textiles and garment productionthat is needed in these countries, using the same high standards and best practices that are required in Europe.

Conclusion
The ever increasing overproduction of fast fashion has also led
to increasing amounts of used clothing being exported fromthe Global North to the Global South. While imported usedclothes called “Mitumba” are relevant for many people and theeconomy in Kenya and Tanzania, nearly half of the clothes
imported are not even usable or sellable and quickly end up on
dumpsites, in rivers and being burnt on open fires. So effectively, through the export of used clothes, the Global North has
found a backdoor to get rid of its textile waste and is forcing
countries from the Global South to deal with the consequencesof fast fashion, even though they have no infrastructure to
do so. To solve this problem, global fashion brands need tocompletely change their out-of-date linear business model, slow
down the flow of materials massively, and switch to a slow,
truly circular and fair production. As this briefing reveals, it‘s
not enough for these brands to only focus on cleaning up their
supply chains; Greenpeace is urging global fashion brands tostep up their efforts to stop the huge end-of-life impacts of theirproducts. In addition, the EU needs to ensure that its plan to
ban the export of textile waste and promote long lasting,durable and repairable clothing of good quality is fully implemented through various regulations, which must also beurgently adopted as a global treaty. Fashion designed in thisway could then take its proper place in the second-hand clothes
economy in Africa, and bring the benefits of reusing clothing
without the devastating consequences of the current system.
The Global North should learn from the designers, Mitumba
traders, upcyclers and waste pickers in East Africa who areshowing how we should value and take care of the clothes
already in the system, because the most sustainable garment is
the one that doesn’t have to be newly made.

Endnotes
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Boston Consulting Group (2021), Net-Zero Challenge: The supply chain opportunity, January 2021;
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Net_Zero_Challenge_The_Supply_Chain_Opportunity_2021.pdf
European Topic Centre on Waste and Materials in a Green Economy (2019), Textiles and the environment
in a circular economy, November 2019; https://ecodesign-centres.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/
ETC_report_textiles-and-the-enviroment-in-a-circular-economy.pdf
European Environment Agency (2019), Private consumption: Textiles EU‘s fourth largest cause of environmental pressures after food, housing, transport, November 2019;https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/private-consumption-textiles-eus-fourth-1
BOF/McKinsey (2021), State of Fashion 2021, p 65; https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/state%20of%20fashion/2021/the-state-of-fashion-2021-vf.pdf
Ellen McArthur Foundation (2017), A New Textiles Economy, p 37, (Overall, one garbage truck of textiles
is landfilled or incinerated every second.); https://ellenmacarthurfoundation. org/a-new-textiles-economy
Guardian (2021), Shein, the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion, 10th April 2021;
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/apr/10/shein-the-unacceptable-face-of-throwaway-fast-fashion
Fairwertung (2016), Altkleidersammlungen in Deutschland – Zahlen, Daten, Fakten;
https://fairwertung.de/blog/blog.21/index.html
Andrew Brooks (2015), Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281463089_Clothing_Poverty_The_Hidden_World_of_Fast_Fashion_and_Second-hand_Clothes
BBC (2015), Where do your old clothes go?; https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30227025
Trade data from UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database, as reported in Oxfam (2005),
The impact of the second-hand clothing trade on developing countries, p 4:
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/112464/rr-impact-second-handclothing-trade-developing-countries-010905-en.pdf;sequence=1
Statistica, Secondhand apparel market value worldwide from 2012 to 2025 (in billion U.S. dollars)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/826162/apparel-resale-market-value-worldwide/
The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) (2020), Used Clothing, Net Trade; https://oec.world/en/
profile/hs92/used-clothing
The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) (2020), op.cit.
For the US: Council for Textile Recycling, The Life Cycle of Second Hand Clothing; http://www.weardonaterecycle.org/about/clothing-life-cycle.html, for Germany: Fairwertung (2016), Altkleidersammlungen in
Deutschland – Zahlen, Daten, Fakten; https://fairwertung.de/blog/blog.21/index.html, For the UK: Andrew
Brooks (2015), Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand;https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281463089_Clothing_Poverty_The_Hidden_World_of_Fast_Fashion_and_Second-hand_Clothes
ABC news (2021), Dead white man’s clothes, 11th August 2021, updated 21st October 2021;
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702
EEB & Ökopol (2021), Policy brief on prohibiting the destruction of unsold goods, 25th October 2021.
(83% of unsold goods that are destroyed are textiles); https://eeb.org/wasteful-destruction-of-unsoldgoods-must-be-bannedngos-urge-the-eu/
BMUV (2020), Gesetz zur Förderung der Kreislaufwirtschaft und Sicherung der umweltverträglichen
Bewirtschaftung von Abfällen
(Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz KrWG), § 23, (German circular economy act)
https://www.bmuv.de/gesetz/kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz/According to §23,
“When distributing the products, it must be ensured that their usability is maintained and that they do not
become waste”, so the downcycling of good textiles into insulation material is also prohibited.
European Commision (2022), EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, p 4;
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/publications/textiles-strategy_en
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States,
comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha,
Tanzania.
Hailey Chalhoub (2012), From Recyclers to Risk-Takers: The Social, Economic and Political Challenges of
Selling Second-Hand Clothes in Kenya, p 4; https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2409&context=isp_collection From Recyclers to Risk-Takers: The Social, Economic
and Political Challenges of Selling Second-Hand Clothes in Kenya – Hailey Chalhoub [pg.4]
In Ghana, the term “Obroni Wawu” refers to dead white men’s clothes and “Salaula” in Zambia means“select by rummaging”
Olivia D. Kinabo (2004), The Textile Industry and the Mitumba Market in Tanzania:
A Paper Presented to the Tanzania-Network.de Conference
on Textile Market and Textile Industry in Rural and Urban areas in Tanzania, 23 .October 2004, p 4;
http://www.tanzaniagateway.org/docs/textile_industry_and_the_mitumba_market_in_tanzania.pdf
Reuters (2014), The global business of secondhand clothes thrives in Kenya,15th October 2014;
https://www.reuters.com/article/kenya-textiles-idINKCN0I41ZE20141015
Overseas Development Institute ( 2017), The phase-out of second-hand imports:
what impact for Tanzania?, 23rd .October 2017, p 4;
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/82175/1/MPRA_paper_82175.pdf
https://www.globalfashionagenda.com/publications-and-policy/pulse-of-the-industry/
CBS (2021), Fast Fashion in the U.S. is fueling an environmental disaster in Ghana;https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghana-fast-fashion-environmental-disaster/

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The Mitumba Association of Kenya in collaboration with the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kenya;
Kenya’s Import of Second-Hand Clothing and Accessories Between 2016–2020:
an Overview of Mitumba Market in Kenya – Textile Value Chain
Zoom In: Value Chain Analysis of the Mitumba Industry in Kenya – Fie-Consult, 17th February, 2022
It is estimated that in Africa “only 70% of imported garments can actually be resold in the host country.
Two thirds of the remaining are cascaded to lower-value goods and one third is dumped”. –Textile Mountain: The Hidden Burden of our Fashion Waste
Textile Mountain – The Hidden Burden of our Fashion Waste – European Environmental Bureau,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC4oFmX8tHw&t=4s
Vogue Business (2021), Secondhand fashion: Is it really good for Africa? – Carey Baraka, 25th November
2021, – quote from Liz Ricketts, director of the OR Foundation,
https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/secondhand-fashion-is-it-really-good-for-africa
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a United States Trade Act enhancing market accessto the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries. The intention was to “set requirements for local
textile fabric sourcing where it was considered that sufficient quantities were available in AGOA-eligible
countries; third country fabric (the provisions related only to denim initially) would thus first have to besourced locally or regionally before third country imports could be utilised for onward exports of denim
garments. About AGOA – AGOA.info
Three African nations may face AGOA sanctions if Mitumba banned – AGOA.info
Protection ban on imported used clothing – Franck Kuwonu, Africa Renewal
President Museveni Addresses EALA at start of 4th Meeting of 5th Session – Press Release, eac.int
EAC divided on ban on used clothes, shoes as US lobbies exert pressure – the East African
The EAC raises taxes while the US increases pressure to repeal second-hand clothing ban –Christabel Ligami, Equal Times
East African Countries to Raise Tax on Imported “Mitumba” Clothes –Eunniah Mbabazi, The Kenyan Wall Street
High taxes force used clothes dealers to think Tanzania market – Nation
Greenpeace International (2011), Hidden Consequences, the costs of industrial water pollution
on people, planet and profit, May 2011; https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-internationalstateless/2011/05/84034070-hidden-consequences.pdf
What is Waste Colonisation? – Cecilia Huang, Remake
Textile Value Chain (2021), The Mitumba Association of Kenya in collaboration with the Institute of
Economic Affairs, Kenya; Kenya’s Import of Second-Hand Clothing and Accessories Between 2016-2020:
an Overview of Mitumba Market in Kenya; https://textilevaluechain.in/in-depth-analysis/kenyas-import-ofseconhand-clothing-and-accessories-between-2016-2020-an-overview-of-mitumba-market-in-kenya/
Global business of secondhand clothes thrives in Africa – AGOA.org
Institute of Economic Affairs, State of Second-Hand Clothes and Footwear Trade in Kenya Report;
https://media.africaportal.org/documents/1614939275_State_of_second-hand_clothes.pdf
Institute of Economic Affairs, op.cit.
From Recyclers to Risk-Takers: The Social, Economic and Political Challenges of Selling Second-Hand
Clothes in Kenya – Hailey Chalhoub [pg. 20]
Textile Value Chain (2021), op.cit.
Leading Economic Indicators January 2022 – Kenya National Bureau of Statistics
FASH455 Global Apparel & Textile Trade and Sourcing (2015),
Global Trade of Used Clothing (Updated: October 2015),
https://shenglufashion.com/2015/09/30/global-trade-of-used-clothing/
Institute of Economic Affairs, op.cit. page 19
Calabrese, Linda and Balchin, Neil and Mendez-Parra, Maximiliano (2017):
The phase-out of second-hand clothing imports: what impact for Tanzania?
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/82175/1/MPRA_paper_82175.pdf
Textile Value Chain (2021), op.cit.
Changing Markets (2021), Synthetics Anonymous; fashion brands’ addiction to fossil fuels, June 2021;
http://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/SyntheticsAnonymous_FinalWeb.pdf
Gruber, E.S., Stadlbauer, V., Pichler, V. et al. To Waste or Not to Waste: Questioning Potential Health Risks
of Micro- and Nanoplastics with a Focus on Their Ingestion and Potential Carcinogenicity. Expo Health(2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-022-00470-8
Heather A. Leslie, Martin J. M. van Velzen, Sicco H. Brandsma, Dick Vethaak, Juan J. Garcia-Vallejo, Marja
H. Lamoree (2022). Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood. Environment
International. 107199
Jenner, L. C., Rotchell, J. M., Bennett, R. T., Cowen, M., Tentzeris, V., & Sadofsky, L. R. (2022).
Detection of microplastics in human lung tissue using μFTIR spectroscopy.
Science of The Total Environment, 154907.
Greenpeace International (2018), Destination Zero: Seven Years of Detoxing the Clothing Industry, 12th
July 2018; https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/17612/destination-zero/