Historical, political, and socio-economic drivers behind the contribution of the fast fashion industry to waste and climate impacts - Legacies of the colonial era in Ghana.

(Kantamanto Market, Accra, Ghana. Photograph: Context News, 2025).

ABSTRACT

Ghana is the world’s top importer of second-hand clothing (“SHC”) from the Global North (“GN”). SHC consists primarily of discarded fast fashion (“FF”), describing clothing which is “readily available, inexpensively made”, with speedy production allowing retailers to “[keep] pace with constant demand for more and different styles” (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018:1). In the European Union (“EU”) alone, 5.8 million tonnes of textiles (11 kg per person) are thrown away each year (EC 2022); over 70% of SHC ejected from the GN arrives in Africa, of which over 40% becomes waste (Cullen 2024).

With mega-rapid turnaround times and constant new releases, FF – tracing its roots to the brands Zara and H&M in the 1990s – epitomizes “sped up and compartmentalized hyperconsumption” (Boykoff et al. 2021:2). FF proponents, influenced by social media and peer pressure, appreciate its accessible price point and reflection of capricious fashion trends (Anisah et al. 2024). Rising FF consumption is associated with the emergence of a growing middle-class and more women in the workforce (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022) and increased spending power in developing countries (Bianco et al. 2023).

This paper explores the drivers behind the WCIs of the FF trade, the influence of imperialism, neo-colonialism, and waste colonialism, and the broader supply chain context, by investigating the drivers in Vietnam as manufacturer, France as a consumer, and Ghana as importer. By analysis of academic sources and grey literature through a postcolonial lens, this work examines the historical and sociopolitical power dynamics surrounding this phenomenon.

The findings indicate, first, a strong ascendancy of the FF industry; second, uneven bargaining power in SHC import negotiations; and third, stark global and domestic socioeconomic inequality dating back (in the case of Ghana) as early as the 15th century. The drivers in Ghana contributing to WCIs include discriminatory colonial-era policies stifling local industry and social progress, and insufficiently robust institutions and waste processing infrastructure. The practical conclusions of this research call for profound systemic change in terms of demand, fabrication, transport, and use of FF items, as well as legal and sociopolitical reforms to recalibrate global power imbalances.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Ghana is the world’s greatest importer of SHC (Ogunmefun 2024). In Ghana, imported SHC is the main source of clothing. Kantamanto Market in central Accra (“Kantamanto”) is an hour’s drive from the Ghana’s primary SHC entry point (Amanor 2018). Approximately 114 million kg of SHC is imported into Kantamanto annually, of which 40% is of too poor condition to be sold (Ihre 2024). A complex web of government bodies, trade associations, importers, middlemen, head porters, traders, up-cyclers, and seamstresses operate in this vast market.

In terms of polluting industries, FF is second only to oil (Matuszak-Flejzsman et al. 2024). Globally, of the 100 billion garments made each year, 92 million tonnes are landfilled (Rangel-Buitrago 2024). Within the EU, approximately 5.8 million tonnes of textiles (11 kg per person) are trashed annually (EC 2022), of which 87% is either incinerated or landfilled (Fonseca et al. 2023). The GS suffers more health- and environmental-related consequences of the FF trade given its proximity to production centres (Ihre 2024; Vanacker et al. 2023); over 90% of FF is fabricated in low- or middle-income countries (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018).

The study investigates the following research question: “What drivers can be identified in Vietnam (producer), France (consumer), and Ghana (waste recipient) behind the contribution of the FF industry to waste and climate impacts (“WCIs”)?” with the following sub-questions:-

• RQ1a: What are the WCIs of the FF industry in Ghana specifically?

• RQ1b: To what extent do the legacies of the colonial era play a part in erecting sociopolitical structures linking the economies of the GN and GS?

• RQ1c: Can parallels be drawn between present-day waste colonialism (i.e. dumping of post-consumer fashion waste and low grade SHC by the GN onto the GS) and 19th and 20th century political imperialism (as defined by the theft of resources by the GN from the GS)?

FF carbon emissions represent 8-10% of the global total (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Bildirici, Türkkahraman, and Ersin 2025), exceeding those of aviation and shipping combined (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Bildirici, Türkkahraman, and Ersin 2025). SHC and other post-consumer textile waste (“PCTW”) generate greenhouse gas emissions when incinerated (Fonseca et al. 2023) and emit air pollutants when decomposing in landfills (DeVoy et al. 2021)

FF consumers are less attached to their items than to a high quality or more costly equivalent. This coincides with a 36% decline in the frequency of garment use from 2009 to 2024 (Rangel-Buitrago 2024). By reason of high-speed production, over-production, and consumers’ disposal habits, FF contributes to increased end-of-life textile waste (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022). Discarded FF eventually end up landfilled, incinerated, deposited illegally, or exported with questionable legality onto the GS (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018). Dumped or landfilled FF waste is visually and odorously unpleasant, causes congestion, and decomposes in landfills (DeVoy et al. 2021). On beaches, garment waste leaches chemicals, disturbs habitats, creates microhabitats for invasive species, endangers marine organisms through ingestion and entanglement, and diminishes touristic appeal (Rangel-Buitrago et al. 2024).

In 2018, Vietnam was the 3rd greatest garment exporter in the world (Marslev et al. 2022), exporting 6% of global clothing in 2022 (WTO 2023). The clothing industry represents over 10% of its GDP (Ngo et al. 2023).

France enjoyed a gross domestic product of USD3.05 trillion in 2023, ranking 7th highest in the world (World Bank 1). In 2022, 80% of its population used social networks, of which 64% had made a purchase via a social media platform the previous year (FEVAD 2022). In 2024, French consumers spent the most money on Shein, an FF behemoth, surpassing the second-hand platform Vinted (Roussel 2025). In that year, parcels from Shein and Temu (a low-cost massive online marketplace) represented 22% of parcels handled by the universal postal service provider in France (Roussel 2025). 2024 witnessed a record high of 42 new textile purchases per person in France, totalling 3.5 billion new pieces (Le Parisien 2025). According to a government survey, the 3 most popular brands for fashion purchases, after Vinted, were FF brands; in the same study, only 19% of French fashion consumers considered the environment as a factor in their purchases (Godet 2024).

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW & THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

FF consumption patterns and attitudes are a key social driver behind FF demand. This is true globally as seen in a study conducted in Florida (DeVoy et al. (2021) which observed the positive relationship between income and consumption on one hand and waste generation on the other hand. Anisah et al. (2024) found that fashion orientation in Indonesia strongly influences consumers’ purchase intention and behaviour, tempered by sustainable clothing consumption attitudes. The literature concurs that growing demand for clothing is associated with greater awareness of fashion trends, facilitated by celebrity culture and social media (Anisah et al. 2024; Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Šimurina and Mustać 2019).

Studies agree on FF’s far-reaching environmental impacts. The fashion business uses 93 billion tons of clean water each year (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Bildirici, Türkkahraman, and Ersin 2025). The primary textiles used in fashion production are cotton and polyester (Sustainability Directory 2025). Polyester, a synthetic material, is produced using oil (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018). Cotton cultivation demands tremendous amounts of water and pesticides (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018), in addition to fertilizers and other chemicals (Brown-Hayes 2021); the clothing industry uses 4% of global nitrogen fertilizers and phosphorus (Šimurina and Mustać 2019). FF generates approximately 20% of global wastewater during farming, livestock feeding, sanitation, and the treatment and washing of textiles (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022), leaching pesticides and other hazardous chemicals into the hydrological cycle (Bildirici, Türkkahraman, and Ersin 2025; Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018). The prevalence of synthetic fibres in textile production contributes to the release of 500,000 tonnes of synthetic microfibres into the marine environment (Cullen 2024). 10% of microplastics disseminated each year derive from textiles, and over a third of the ocean’s microplastics derive from the washing of synthetic textiles (Rangel-Buitrago 2024).

Brown-Hayes (2021) identified the gap between academic findings and public disclosures by the FF industry, while Ihre (2024) critiqued the lack of specificity and verifiability in corporate circularity narratives, including omitting the ultimate destination of unsold items, i.e. the GS. FF companies’ transport-related emissions reporting tends to be inconsistent in terms of details (Matuszak-Flejszman, Preisner, and Banach 2024).

The literature reflects that FF’s WCIs is one of many ramifications of persistent historical power asymmetries. Since European colonizers first started to explore, trade with, and subjugate lands in the 16th century, laying the foundations of the modern world system, core (i.e. developed and industrialized) countries have exerted cultural imperialism over the Oriental periphery (Wallerstein 2011). Core cultures are internalized as superior and ‘normal’ and peripheral cultures are overwritten and left to atrophy (Fanon 1963; Said 1979; Wallerstein 2011). This is demonstrated in the SHC influx in Ghana to the detriment of local textile industries and heritage (see RQ1b).

The global SHC trade perpetuates the colonialist relationship between GN and GS (Manieson and Ferroro-Regis 2023). According to Foucault (1978), modern power (governmentality) is exercised covertly through administration, bureaucracy, and economy. This resonates in Wallerstein (2011)’s dichotomy of core countries (former colonizing GN nations), and peripheral countries (former colonies and/or low-income GS nations); he argues that core countries stay powerful and rich by extricating the labour and resources of peripheral countries through prima facie legitimate means. This applies to the GN’s offloading of SHC onto the GN, achieved ostensibly by way of aid/charity, development, recycling, and trade.

This disguised extortion resounds in, first, the concept of neo-colonialism (Nkrumah 1965), in which former colonies are preserved in economic and political subservience by former colonizers’ use of capital and soft power; and second, the postulation by Mignolo (2007) that the power matrixes of modern coloniality are a continuation of colonialism. Colonialist framings are both a cause of and a basis for the GN’s continued intervention in the GS (Said 1979).

Environmental issues in postcolonial states can be explained by colonial and neoliberal development mindsets (Huggan and Tiffin 2015; Peet and Watts 1996). This is demonstrated, first, in Ghana’s evolution from a monoculture agrarian export colony to a nation under the yoke of IMF Policies (defined below), and second, in the decline of its textile industries under IMF Policies coinciding with the simultaneous hike in SHC dumping. Reproducing colonial-era class divisions, environmental damage is inflicted overwhelmingly on the GS, which subsidizes GN consumption and lifestyles (Peet and Watts 1996).

Neoliberal structural adjustment policies (“SAPs”) and other trade liberalization programs, imposed by the World Bank (“WB”) and International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) as prerequisites for aid to Ghana (“IMF Policies”), have reinforced North-South inequality. IMF Policies obstructed Ghana’s domestic entrepreneurship and manufacturing capacities and exposed fledgling local industries to competition from mature markets (Ayelazuno and Mawuko-Yevugah 2019; Karimu 2024; Mah 2021). The SAPs of the 1980s and 1990s weakened public infrastructure and governmental capacity across the GS (Peet and Watts 1996). Ghana’s markets were flooded with SHC as a result of IMF Policies (Amanor 2018).

The colonial-era saviour mentality is evoked in “first world environmentalism” (Huggan and Tiffin 2015), i.e. sustainability discourse which disregards global inequality, positioning the GN as more environmentally conscious and the GS as an ecological warzone. The media, academia, and government endorse Orientalist othering discourse and silences indigenous voices (Said 1979; Mignolo 2007). This can be seen in the loopholes of the Basel Convention (see RQ1c) and the lack of transparency in FF companies’ waste disclosures. Nixon (2011) concurs in his formulation of environmental racism, in which certain communities are treated as less worthy of rights than others. Peripheral countries bear the burdens of core countries’ capitalist production without enjoying the fruits (Mignolo 2007; Wallerstein 2011) – GN retailers and consumers enjoy profits and convenience, while the GS suffers socio-economic, environmental, and cultural depreciation.

This snapshot of the landscape of knowledge in the field demonstrates that the interaction of global historical, political, and socioeconomic processes and structures together drives the massive wheels of the FF business. While these drivers have been examined in silos in different contexts and from various perspectives, this project adds to the body of knowledge by constructing a cohesive multidimensional narrative which showcases the connection between, on one hand, these processes and structures, and on the other, the impacts of these drivers in Ghana.

A theoretical framework is the application of theories which “simultaneously conveys the deepest values of the researcher(s) and provides a clearly articulated signpost or lens for how the study will process new knowledge” (Collins and Stockton 2018:2). This research adopts a postcolonial political ecology framework (Peet and Watts 1996), applying world-systems theory (Wallerstein 2011), governmentality (Foucault 1978), postcolonial ecocriticism (Huggan and Tiffin 2015), waste colonialism, neo-colonialism (Nkrumah 1964; Nkrumah 1965), and post- and de-colonial theorists such as Fanon (1963), Spivak (1988), Said (1979), and Mbembe (2003), to examine how FF’s environmental effects are distributed along ley lines of historical and contemporary coloniality.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter analyses the methodology applied to gather the data responding to the research questions formulated in Chapter 1. The chosen methodology is the qualitative analysis and review of academic sources and grey literature by adopting the theoretical framework discussed in Chapter 2.

Given the connections between Vietnam as FF manufacturer, France as consumer, and Ghana as recipient of SHC, the author placed Ghana at the forefront of this study while Vietnam and France provide the broader supply chain context. This paper engages with inter alia colonialism, neo-colonialism, and waste colonialism in examining contemporary SHC flow routes and studying the underlying drivers enabling this phenomenon.

The author is trilingual (English, French, and Mandarin Chinese) and this was a multilingual study involving sources in the original English and French languages.

The research was initiated by general searches of peer-reviewed academic literature as well as Google, using combinations of keywords including but not limited to “second hand clothing”, “clothing”, “clothing export”, “textile waste”, “fashion”, “fashion waste”, “clothing waste”, “waste impact”, “climate impact”, “environmental impact”, “climate”, “garment industry”, “textile industry”, “fast fashion”, “fashion industry”, and “fashion consumption”, combined with “France”, “Ghana”, and “Vietnam”. Sources were set aside which were less relevant to drivers and discussed solely WCIs.

After review of these initial sources and with deeper understanding of the issues at hand, the research questions evolved and sharpened in focus and narrower searches were then conducted using one or more of the following aforementioned terms combined with “Ghana”, “colonial”, “waste colonialism”, “Kantamanto”, “ministry”, “government”, “history”, “policy”, “IMF”, “structural adjustment”, and “supply chain”.

During this process, the author also became aware of various theoretical schools of thought which triggered further research and review using one or more of the abovementioned terms in combination with “postcolonial”, “decolonial”, “decolonisation”, “neo-colonial”, “coloniality”, “oriental”, “necropolitics”, “ecocriticism”, and “critical theory”.

Eventually, after a review of over 90 sources (excluding news articles and blog posts), of which approximately 70 were deemed relevant to this study, the author developed a conceptual framework highlighting the historical and persistent linkage between colonialism, neo-colonialism, and contemporary environmentalism as practised by the GN, and the impact of these historical and modern social processes on Ghana. FF then surfaced not as a protagonist in the narrative but the tip of the iceberg the foundation of which was laid by these processes. This theoretical framework has guided the author’s examination of the historical and institutional forcings which sustain Ghana’s positioning as a non-space in the global SHC network.

All of the research was completed remotely in Biarritz, France where the author resides. Due to financial constraints the author was not in a position to travel to Ghana to conduct in-person interviews.

Sources were selected to portray a healthy equilibrium between academic literature and grey literature, with the former constituting the vast majority, in order for the research to be current and relevant. The author was especially interested in applying a decolonized research methodology elucidated by Thambinathan and Kinsella (2021). This was achieved by the intentional inclusion of sources authored by Africans, especially Ghanaians, and incorporating blogs, local newspapers, statements by local non-governmental organizations, historical essays, and anecdotal information from affected residents.

The author also aspired to valorize and promote local knowledge, practices, and understandings (Thambinathan and Kinsella 2021) by incorporating opinions from Kantamanto traders and repairers and Accra fishermen as legitimate sources of knowledge and thinking. This was conducted with the aim of serving affected communities, including Africans and in particular Ghanaians, not as victims or subjects of study but owners of knowledge and insight. The author also hopes to further the advancement of social and environmental justice and decolonizing research (Thambinathan and Kinsella 2021) by inter alia naming and opposing the damage caused by colonial and neoliberal systems.

By explicitly acknowledging that theory shapes the conceptual vocabulary in this paper, this author affirms Collins and Stockton (2018)’s contention that theory operates at the epistemological level, deciding what is visible, knowable, and worthy of inquiry. Collins and Stockton (2018)’s defence of theoretical pluralism — employing overlapping theories to address complex phenomena – is reflected in this paper’s integration of multiples schools of thought, interrogating the subject matter on a systems basis across several geographical and historical scales. In this attempt to cross continents while melding theory with lived realities, and past with present, the author hopes to demonstrate the linkages between all of us as human beings across time and space, and therefore the right of each of us to a healthy environment, respect, and self-determination.

It is acknowledged that one of the weaknesses of the project may be its strong reliance on English-language sources; however, attempts have been made to rely on authors native to the 3 subject countries and less on second- or third-hand journalism. Further, the author’s grasp of French has permitted review of a relatively wide variety of French-language sources.

Another potential limitation may be the author’s personal identity and lived experience as a citizen of a former colonized country (Singapore) who is residing as a racial minority (ethnically Chinese) in the territory of a former coloniser (France), all of which have certainly led to the author’s personal interest, and may influence certain positions taken and opinions formed, in terms of the postcolonial experience. However, as a lawyer and person of relative academic privilege, it is recognized that it is not the author’s prerogative to speak for and on behalf of marginalized communities whether in the 3 subject countries or elsewhere. As such, the author has exercised all of her best endeavours to ensure that this work at the very least facilitates awareness without furthering any injustice.

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

What drivers can be identified in Vietnam (producer), France (consumer), and Ghana (waste recipient) behind the contribution of the FF industry to WCIs?

Vietnam

After the expiration in 2005 of quotas set under the 1974 Multi-Fibre Agreement, and Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007 (WTO), Vietnam entered the global garment market with a weak bargaining power qua producer. In a buyers’ market with purchasers (primarily from the GN) exerting pricing and sourcing squeezes, manufacturers (largely from the GS) struggle to keep costs low in order to preserve profit margins (Anner 2018). Prioritizing low costs meant deprioritizing processes not directly contributing to the bottom line, such as waste management, leading to deficient waste management infrastructure such as wastewater treatment facilities in Vietnamese garment factories (Ngo et al. 2023).

Vietnamese garment factories have relied on coal for energy in the past 30 years (BetterWork 2023); simultaneously, Vietnam’s emissions have risen by 500% in the past 2 decades GHG (ITA 2024), exacerbating the climate crisis. Vietnamese environmental policy has been criticized for opacity and lack of consultation, contradictions between legislative instruments, and weak enforcement (Nguyen 2020). The 2020 Law on Environmental Protection, promulgated in 2024, remains unenforced in the context of waste sorting due to poor public awareness, under-resourcing, and a low level of commitment from local authorities (Viêt Nam News 2025).

France

FF’s attractiveness and affordability, aided by social media coverage, is associated with increased demand, leading to more PCTW generated and exported to the GS such as Ghana. France is a direct exporter of SHC to Ghana (OF1), exporting 1.74 million tonnes of SHC in 2019 (Statista), and was the 10th largest exporter of used textiles globally in 2021 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2024).

Ghana

Colonialism’s dehumanizing nature stifles socioeconomic development and destroys local culture and identities (Fanon 1963; Konadu 2009). Extractive British colonial policy in the Gold Coast colony (now Ghana) (“GCC”) suffocated indigenous entrepreneurship and diversification in favour of British and foreign firms, while promoting cash crops desired by the British markets (Addo-Fening 2013; Arthur 2005; Ayelazuno and Mawuko-Yevugah 2019). Britain failed to develop infrastructure in the GCC except where necessary for exports (Addo-Fening 2013), and nor did it establish sufficiently robust administrative and governance institutions (Osei, Omar, and Joosub 2020). This benefited local elites and foreign traders, exacerbating inequalities and class disparities which persist today (Hillbom et al. 2023). The replacement of local goods by their European counterparts fostered dependency on imports and perceptions of European superiority (Konadu 2009; Fanon 1963) and the colonial subject as inferior and incapable (Said 1979).

Illustrating the power imbalance in SHC exports, efforts by the East African Community (“EAC”) in 2017 to ban what they considered as SHC dumping by the United States were met with vehement legal and political rebuttal including depriving Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania of trade benefits under the African Growth Opportunity Act (“AGOA”) in 2018 (Amanor 2018; Ogenmefun 2024). This deterred the ban by the other EAC countries, who instead implemented higher taxes on SHC (Amanor 2018; Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018).

Ghana’s institutional deficiencies include a lack of sound policies governing SHC trade (Amanor 2018), and limited resources for enforcing import rules, inspecting bales at ports of entry, conducting on-the-ground surveillance, and raising public awareness (Amanor 2018). This impedes the handling and proper disposal of SHC waste from Kantamanto, which is already a Sisyphean task for cleaners and waste collectors given the overcrowding, littering, and the immense waste volume (Amanor 2018). As of 2018, 85% of urban refuse was not disposed of or collected appropriately (Amanor 2018).

SHC injustices trickle down to the individual. Kantamanto traders and retailers are not permitted to inspect the contents of the bales until after payment (Ihre 2024); often, about 40% of the product is ultimately unsellable (see RQ1a). Unsold inventory cannot be returned to wholesalers (Amanor 2018) and is absorbed as a business loss and, eventually, discarded in and around Accra.

There is no law or policy in Ghana governing PCTW or discarded SHC (GUCDA 2024). A 1994 ban on the importation of used undergarments into Ghana has never been effectively implemented (GBC Ghana 2023).

RQ1a: What are the WCIs of the FF industry in Ghana specifically?

Kantamanto receives 114 million kg of SHC per year, of which 40% is unsellable and becomes trash (Ihre 2024). (N.B. The Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association (“GUCDA”) challenges this figure, contending that the correct percentage is 5 (GUCDA 2024)).

Open gutters in Kantamanto fill up with unwanted SHC and are not regularly cleaned; its drains are stuffed with SHC which causes overflows, bursts, and flooding (Amanor 2018). Kantamanto traders purchase meals from vendors in the market, raising questions of hygienic suitability (Amanor 2018).

In central Accra, the largest source of waste is rejected SHC, with 420,000kg landfilled each week (Ihre 2024). Incinerated SHC contributes to air pollution (Ihre 2024). Of the 370 Kantamanto retailers surveyed by the GUCDA, one third preferred to dispose of unwanted SHC by burning (GUCDA 2024).

The textile waste volume is unmanageable with current resources and infrastructure, flooding landfills and surrounding areas. Accra’s main landfill, established in 2014, reached full capacity 4 years ahead of schedule (Ihre 2024), while Ghana’s only sanitary landfill, Kpone, exploded in 2019 after being swamped with SHC. (GhanaWeb 2024). 20% of the waste in Kpone is unwanted SHC from Kantamanto (Ihre 2024). Waste from Kantamanto also flows into the Old Faduma dumping site, which houses 80,000 residents (Ihre 2024). The Accra Metropolitan Assembly spends USD500,000 annually collecting and disposing of trash from Kantamanto, but can only handle 70%; the rest is burned or discarded in nature (GhanaWeb 2024).

The overflow from landfills and dumping sites has invaded beaches and conservation areas. Around Kantamanto, Accra’s beaches are not spared from SHC waste (Ihre 2024). Locals describe the Korle Lagoon as a “textile graveyard” (Bethel 2025) as it receives a third of rejected Kantamanto SHC (Ihre 2024). This affects fisherfolk as well as natural habitats. SHC waste damages fishing equipment, affecting livelihoods (Ihre 2024) One fisherman said that “his nets often capture textile waste from the sea. ‘Unsold clothes aren’t even burned, but just thrown into the Korle Lagoon, which then leads into the ocean…’” (Kente TV). Another stated that Kantamanto SHC waste renders their nets unusable; “the fish are slipping away... our sustenance [with them]” (GhanaWeb 2024). PCTW, from UK FF brands in particular, inundates wildlife and wetland conservation areas in and around the Densu Delta (Jordan and Anane 2025).

The decomposition of stagnant SHC waste in landfills, waterways, and drains emits chemicals and other pollutants, contaminating the air for market users, workers, and residents. Nixon (2011) describes environmental degradation in the GS as “slow violence”, an insidious and silent harm with grave consequences which is not addressed by mainstream media, and which most frequently affects under-represented communities. The health impacts and WCIs of SHC waste in Accra’s landfills, waterways, and drains stand testament to these deferred harms. This is echoed in the silence-silencing of the subaltern, per Spivak (1988), in which the colonized or dispossessed are refused voices and agency within dominant discourse. The opinions of informal workers, traders, waste collectors in Ghana are not often sought, or even misrepresented.

RQ1b: In Ghana, to what extent do the legacies of the colonial era play a part in erecting sociopolitical structures linking the economies of the GN and the GS?

After colonization in 1874, the British suppressed the GCC’s flourishing native industries and exports and sought to import substitutes and develop the GCC into a market for these goods (Addo-Fening 2013; Arthur 2005; Mensah 2023). Colonial administrators moulded the GCC’s industries to satisfy overseas demand for cash crops such as oil palm, cocoa, and rubber (Addo-Fening 2013), establishing the Cocoa Marketing Board (“CMB”) which monopolized the cocoa trade and severely underpaid farmers (Osei, Omar, and Joosub 2020). Perpetuating the CMB’s hegemony, government agencies today still stipulate prices paid to farmers for exported crops (Osei, Omar, and Joosub 2020). Now, Ghana remains essentially as it was during colonial times; an agricultural commodity exporter with minimal domestic production (Manieson and Ferrero-Regis 2023). This dependence on raw material export is especially perilous given the mercurial nature of commodity prices (Ayelazuno and Mawuko-Yevugah 2019).

Colonial-era income inequality abounded between, on one hand, a minority of colonizers and educated Ghanaians and, on the other, the vast majority of Ghanaians engaged in manual labour (Hillbom et al. 2023). Government policies favoured British or expatriate companies; most Ghanaians were labourers while Europeans paid low or no rents (Addo-Fening 2013). Banking and finance were controlled by expatriate or British companies and banks (Mensah 2023), many of which charged higher fees, or refused to grant loans, to local businesses (Arthur 2005). The Bank of British West Africa, Limited (“BBWA”) was the only commercial bank in the GCC in 1905 (HM Government 1906), and the only major banks operating in the entire British West Africa from 1916 to 1957 were Barclays and the BBWA (Austin and Uche 2007). Just prior to independence in 1957, over 90% of imports into Ghana were directed by foreign firms (Mensah 2023). In modern times, in terms of GDP, Ghana ranked 135 out of 217 countries in 2024 (World Bank 2). It is reliant on foreign aid, having agreed to 17 IMF bailouts between independence and 2023 (Karimu 2024).

The colonial legacy, having erected the sociopolitical structures linking the economies of the GN and the GS, is buttressed by neo-colonialism and economic imperialism by inter alia IMF Policies. IMF Policies of the 1980s demolished any prior gains made by Ghana in manufacturing and industrialisation (Amanor 2018; Mah 2021). IMF Policies have generally led to higher poverty levels and a reduced capacity to improve policies and processes (Karimu 2024). With the abolition of price controls and the devaluation of currency (Mah 2021), in the 1980s, many Ghanaians were forced into informal employment (Arthur 2005).

Colonial policies deprived the GCC of infrastructure, particularly transport (Osei, Omar, and Joosub 2020), as well as education and healthcare (Addo-Fening 2013). There were no secondary schools in the GCC until 1913; 25 years later, only 10 secondary schools had been established (Addo-Fening 2013). The GCC possessed no hospitals at all until 1878; in the 1940s, it had a mere 38 dispensaries (Addo-Fening 2013). Unsurprisingly, at present, Ghanaians have restricted educational and employment opportunities (Amanor 2018), while the Ghanaian healthcare system suffers from lack of resources and funding (Siaw-Marfo 2025).

British policy in the GCC diminished traditional Ghanaian clothing and weaving culture, historically symbolic of social status and cultural identity (Adekunle 2023). In the 1980s, Ghana’s infant textile sector was not ready to compete with mature foreign rivals which entered the fray due to IMF Policies (Amanor 2018). From 16 textile firms in the mid-1970s, only 3 survived in 2018 (Amanor 2018). Today, Ghanaian textile and garment manufacturing employs fewer than 1,000 people (Ghana Online News 2024).

The first European missionaries arriving in the GCC from Portugal in 1471 brought both religion and SHC on their “civilizing” quest (Amanor 2018). Adopting European dress styles became essential for social mobility (Amanor 2018). Today, SHC prices out local textile makers, eroding local textile culture and heritage (Ihre 2024), while circularly propping up demand for more SHC from the GN. 95% of Ghanaians rely on SHC for their clothing needs (Kohan Textile Journal 2025). Ghanaian journalist Hilda Aku Asiedu remarked: “Our ancestors wore garments that were handmade, meaningful, and enduring. Today, that legacy is under threat due to pollution, inaction, and exploitation” (Asiedu 2025). Approximately 2.5 million Ghanaians depend on the SHC industry for their livelihoods (Kohan Textile Journal 2025).

RQ1c: In Ghana, can parallels be drawn between present-day waste colonialism (i.e. dumping of post-consumer fashion waste and low grade SHC by the GN onto the GS) and 19th and 20th century political imperialism (as defined by the theft of resources by the GN from the GS)?

Imperialism (used interchangeably here with colonialism) historically involved the extraction of land and resources, whereas waste colonialism represents a contemporary parallel: the appropriation of land in the GS for waste dumping by the GN.

Ghana’s main SHC importers are China, the EU, and the UK (Oxford Economics 2024). Nearly half of the SHC in Ghana has been imported by its former colonizer, the UK (Vanacker et al. 2023). As Huggan and Tiffin (2015) imply, waste flows mirror colonial trade routes. Colonialism distorted African economies, orienting them toward raw material extraction and consumerism rather than industrial self-reliance (Ayelazuno & Mawuko-Yevugah, 2019). Amanor (2018) situates the SHC trade within a deeper historical current of economic dependency, tracing how colonial-era trade policies dismantled Ghana’s domestic garment industry and how postcolonial liberalization under IMF Policies flooded the market with SHC. Ghana’s current dependence on SHC is a consequence of structural underdevelopment, imposed and later cemented by both colonial and postcolonial economic policies. Just as colonialism redirected Ghana’s economy to serve imperial needs (e.g. cocoa and palm oil export), the contemporary FF industry has entrenched Ghana in a global waste economy driven by northern consumption.

This finds concurrence in proponents of waste colonialism (Liboiron 2018, gaia, OF2), who frame GN-GS waste transfer as reverse colonial extraction; where former colonizers extracted resources from colonies, the GN extracts land, biocapacity, and ecosystem services from the GS. Ghana’s current role in the global fashion system – as a consumer of waste, not a producer of value – is systemically inherited and institutionally reinforced (Addo-Fening 2013; Wallerstein 2011).

The term “waste colonialism” is understood to have been coined in 1989 during negotiations of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (the “Basel Convention”) – requiring member countries to inter alia handle and dispose of waste responsibly – suggesting that waste disposal by the GN perpetuates colonial power relations, a form of “dispossession by contamination” (Ihre 2024:17) and land grabbing (Bethel 2025; Nixon 2011). Waste transfer from the GN to the GS is a form of colonialism, argue Sridhar and Kumar (2019), as it is indirect access to land; the authors are also sceptical of the effectiveness of the Basel Convention, given inter alia that the GS’ need for income may often outweigh their environmental and health concerns. Kantamanto, Korle, and Kpone symbolize environmental deterioration which originates in colonial and postcolonial inequities.

Contemporary categorizations of “waste” and “value” mirror colonial mindsets in determining what is to be saved and what is to be forsaken (Fanon 1963; Nixon 2011). The GS appears to have designated the GN’s land and environmental rights as disposable. In drawing on their right to export SHC to the GS, the GN exercises its sovereignty, described by Mbembe (2003) as “necropolitics”, to determine which peoples and which lands are valuable, and which do or do not deserve life.

SHC exporters and donors in the GN retain control over the flow, volume, and quality of clothing, often externalizing the costs of their overproduction and disposal habits onto Ghanaian markets with little accountability (Amanor 2018), an example of Nixon (2011)’s slow violence. Ihre (2024) observed geographic inequality in H&M's clothing recycling campaign, where garments not recycled in Europe are exported to the GS. Little (2019) describes the disproportionate ecological burden borne by the GS, especially waste workers and vulnerable groups.

Waste colonialism, exemplified in the necrogeography of Kantamanto’s environs, is a continuation of reverse imperial extractivism. While colonialism extracted raw resources, today’s waste regime reinserts goods devalued by the GN back into postcolonial spaces, leaving the environmental burden behind in the GS.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

FF is not without its advantages. It offers accessibility to clothing and employment (Stenton et al 2021; GUCDA 2024). FF democratizes clothing for lower- and medium-income communities (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga 2018). Further, the SHC trade employs 2.5 million people in Ghana alone (GUCDA 2024), empowering individuals to earn livelihoods in the informal sector when formal opportunities are scarce (Amanor 2018).

However, much can be done by every stakeholder in reducing FF’s WCIs and in overturning its underlying structures and processes.

Shoppers may consider holding off on new impulse buys or indulging in “hauls”, or may avoid new purchases altogether in favour of collaborative consumption in which clothing is lent, borrowed, rented, upgraded, and redesigned for a new lease on life (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Zamani et al. 2017). Consumers may prioritize items made of natural fibres and materials which are recyclable, compostable, and/or biodegradable. Changes in laundry practices also make a difference, e.g. using more efficient and/or front-loading machines, washing at lower temperatures and at full load, and air drying instead of tumble-drying (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Šimurina and Mustać 2019). There is ample material on social media documenting FF’s WCIs which can be boosted to promote and normalize the abovementioned practices.

FF manufacturers may explore water and energy efficiency (Peters, Li, and Lenzen 2021), which could save costs while reducing WCIs. Investment in wastewater treatment could allow wastewater effluents to be recycled and wastewater to be treated on-site (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022). Reducing FF shipment frequency could be considered alongside a shift away from fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles (Matuszak-Flejszman, Preisner, and Banach 2024)

End-of-life waste can be reduced by enhancing quality and longevity, ensuring the product stays in the system for as long as possible (Bailey, Basu, and Sharma 2022; Brown-Hayes 2021). An interesting option catering to the rapid turnover of FF consumer preferences is to engineer fabrics meant to biodegrade within a reasonably short time but with negligible environmental impacts (Stenton et al. 2021). FF and PCTW can also be recycled into other materials, such as the RevivalTex Brick, which comprises 80% recycled textile waste from Kantamanto (Circularity Lab).

The GS must be empowered to reject SHC and/or PCTW imports (DeVoy et al. 2021), inter alia by the international community supporting GS objections to forced importation or by strengthening regional solidarity between would-be importers. Lawmakers must require FF manufacturers to make environmental disclosures, including disposal of excess production (Brown-Hayes 2021), according to fixed uniform frameworks; this could be facilitated by an industry alliance between FF producing countries. More resources must be dedicated to inspection and sorting prior to export and before import, as well for in situ waste management. Legal protections for workers in the SHC trade must be instituted, as well as investment in capacity-building for the industry. These boil down to the power of the vote and the dollar.

Countries may observe the EU and France as working prototypes in law and regulation. EU countries must seek express consent from importing countries (if external to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), before exporting textile waste (EC 2022). The EU’s related measures including the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and the EU Ecolabel (EC 2022). Laws such as France’s latest anti-FF bill (to be presented for final approval in September 2025) (France24 2025) and extended producer’s responsibility scheme for textiles (WRAP 2025) are excellent exemplars for emulation and improvement.

Within Kantamanto, there is a bustling SHC fringe industry of repairers and upcyclers (Amanor 2018; Ihre 2024; Vanacker et al. 2023), saving defective SHC from being relegated to waste. It is the world’s largest resale and upcycling centre, recirculating over 25 million garments per month (Vanacker et al 2023). At Kantamanto’s OWO Festival, fashion designers use and upcycle SHC in an impressive show of creativity and flair (Awatey 2023). These measures discredit the dominant Occidental narrative of sustainability and circularity which does not necessarily value the practical knowledge of the dispossessed. Vanacker et al. (2023) especially criticizes the tendency of mainstream sustainability discourse to disregard indigenous people, women, people of lower class and power statuses, and non-human life.

This study has sought to progress knowledge in the field by accentuating the historical and institutional foundations of WCIs in the FF industry, through demonstrating the unbroken chain of subjugation by the GN of the GS via religious, cultural, economic, and political means over centuries. Using Ghana as a focal point, this research seeks to illustrate the concrete effects of these structures and processes on a national and individual scale.

Potential avenues for future research include inter alia amendments to the Basel Convention to address the issues set out in RQ1c; a comprehensive study of FF companies’ environmental and sustainability disclosures based on a common framework; anthropological first-hand accounts from Kantamanto traders and Accra residents on the effectiveness of current waste management and SHC import measures; and research into the community health and social impacts of the overflow of Kantamanto SHC waste.

(6,520 words)

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