The fast fashion landfill in Ghana

Giving your second-hand clothes to a charity shop or recycling centre is surely a good thing, isn’t it?

Well some of those items, which eventually end up abroad, are causing an environmental disaster in West Africa.

Slums and beaches are overflowing with clothes from countries such as the UK that can’t be sold.

And this is affecting everything from the livelihoods of the traders to the seafood eaten across the entire west coast of Africa.

Today, Krishnan speaks to reporter Ashionye Ogene, who has been to Ghana for Unreported World, to see first-hand how the West’s addiction to fast fashion is destroying livelihoods as well as leaving a mark on the country’s landscape for hundreds of years to come.

And he also speaks to Dr Mark Sumner, a lecturer in sustainability, retail and fashion at the University of Leeds, to ask what we can do here in the UK to help stop this environmental and economic disaster.

Producer: Rachel Evans

Sources: ITV News, CBS News

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