Same with those charities that “donate” a pair of shoes to developing countries for every pair purchased. And clothing donations are basically just shipping our plastic waste over there and under cutting the local clothing industry at the same time.
Much of the clothing shipped to the country is made from petroleum-based materials such as polyester. When the clothes cannot be used, they end up burning in landfills near Nairobi, exposing waste pickers and local residents to toxic fumes.
“More than one in three pieces of used clothing shipped to Kenya is a form of plastic waste in disguise and a substantial element of toxic plastic pollution in the country,” the report by the Changing Markets Foundation says.
Between 20 and 50 percent of all donated clothing is not of sufficient quality to be sold on the local secondhand market, the foundation says. And what can be sold has a negative economic impact by undercutting the prices of locally produced new clothes.
Same with those charities that “donate” a pair of shoes to developing countries for every pair purchased. And clothing donations are basically just shipping our plastic waste over there and under cutting the local clothing industry at the same time.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20230219-donated-clothes-an-environmental-disaster-in-disguise-for-developing-world