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Used Clothing From West an Environmental Disaster For Kenya

As much as one-third of the clothing sent from the west to developing countries every year may be ending up in landfill. Unwearable polyester garments are little more than "plastic waste in disguise," according to a report on Kenya, by the Changing Markets Foundation (CMF).

The report says that Kenya is the destination for 900 million pieces of used clothing every year. In a torrent that amounts to 17 items of clothing every year for each Kenyan, up to 8 are a waste from the start. Between 20 and 50% 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.

The CMF report is based on customs data as well as fieldwork by the non-profit organisation Wildlight and the activist group Clean Up Kenya.

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