Oxfam's unwanted clothing is washed up as a garbage in Africa

Oxfam clothing ends up in Ghana on landfolter, although they have agreed that "zero percent" of the donations of charity transactions will suffer such a fate, as an investigation by Telegraph showed.

The exported clothing of the charity floods the markets abroad. The Telegraph was witnessed to the Cantamamanto market in the center of ACCRA, as a seller Oxfam-Ge recognized clothing sorted, some of which were on a stack of low value.

These are clothing that we have been told that they are probably not sold - and are probably intended to be disposed of at a landfill or in one of the many non -registered landfill.

The Or Foundation, a charity that works in the city, often has clothing with the labels of the charity during their exams of discarded items that are waiting for waste collectors and seen on the poisonous, overcrowded landfill.

On his website for donors, Oxfam says that his clothes “never” land at the landfill. Nowhere is there the likelihood that unsold clothing or clothing donations that are not suitable for resale to the United Kingdom are exported.

Data indicates that estimated 70 percent of all British second-hand clothing ends up abroad, often in countries like Ghana, where there is no large textile recycling.

Here a properly managed landfill is the best scenario - but other objects clog the drains, are burned or tipped into the sea.

In Kantamanto, the city's largest second-hand market, the Telegraph also found brands of the Red Cross, Sense and Mind.

Great Britain's fast-fashion habits, according to the data of the world's third largest exporter of second-hand clothing behind the USA and China.

Every year, millions of articles are donated to charity shops or given in textile "recycling" containers, which is regarded as a guil-free way to dispose of no longer worn clothes and release space in the wardrobe for new articles.

Charity organizations have partnerships with profit -oriented companies that are known as textile recyclers who buy the clothes that they cannot sell in their shops, sort them and send part of them abroad, including Ghana.

The results show the tribute that this flood of used clothing in developing countries demands in which the waste collection and management systems have to struggle.

The largest importer is Ghana with 30 million inhabitants. Around 15 million clothes flock into the country every week.

Buy a bale clothing

Most of it initially goes to Cantamanto, and the Or Foundation estimates that 40 percent of what comes onto the market remains as a waste.

market dealers who buy a ball of clothes without seeing the articles in it often fault and buy bale that they cannot sell profitably.

Seller told us that they often do not sell an article because it is poorly quality, damaged, un -fashionable or unsuitable for the country's market.

Liz Ricketts, co-founder and managing director of the OR Foundation, which monitors the textile market and the waste flows, said: “I have never found an Oxfam label in the waste. They are everywhere.

"But Oxfam does not export it, and you don't want your things to end up there. I don't think the average person has an idea that the recycling bin is not a recycling or that it is a profit -oriented business."

clothing from Cantamanto is "the largest consolidated waste current in the entire city of Acra, possibly all over Ghana," says a report by Tony Blair Institute for Global Change from last year, which is based on examinations of the OR Foundation.

entire networks full of dresses

On a wall in the office of the charity organization, there is an "accountability table" on which the labels found most frequently in the waste current are attached, including a label from Oxfam.

on the nearby Jamestown beach, the local fishermen sometimes pull in full networks full of clothing instead of the red fish they need, and a huge tangle of fabrics is constantly buried in the sand.

Every week, the employees of the charity visit this and several other beaches in the area of ACCRA to check what was found there. The best known brands include the British brands Marks & Spencer and Next.

On the beach, The Telegraph found something like that looked like it was a dress between a mass of wrapped clothing from brands such as Lacoste, Nike and Converse, which was marked with a brand of Per Una, the Marks and Spencer Womenswear Label.

Joseph Ayesu, who heads the OR Foundation's beach surveillance program, says that part of the waste comes from the interior of the country to the beach, but sometimes waste administrators dispose of it directly into the sea. "The speed with which it comes into the country is a problem," he says.

The charity said: “The public expects to be used by charity transparency and openness in relation to their work, including the way and where donations are used.

"We evaluate the information to determine whether this is a matter of the Commission."

A spokesman for the British Red Cross said: “Each of our 300 charity shops saves an average of 30 tons of textiles before depositing and reduces CO2 emissions by seven million tons per year.

"We are working hard to accept and sell as many donated articles as possible to ensure that we reduce waste. We donate every opportunity to sell, regularly switch to other locations and use online marketplaces."

A spokesman for Sense said: “We are trying to sell all donations, but do not have the capacity to keep unsuccessful articles for an unlimited time.

"In addition to the rest of the charity sector, we use textile recyclers that are approved and recommended by the Charity Retail Association as an ethical provider to extend the lifespan of goods instead of redirecting them to landfills."

Mind said that "occasionally" if articles are not sold in charity shops, "we work with a respected textile recycling company in Great Britain to ethically manage these articles.

"You process all unsalable articles from our shops by following strict protocols and carrying out complete exams for every customer before you sell clothes to you. You do not sell textiles from mind shops directly to Ghana."

Dawn Dungate from the British Commercial Association Textile Recycling Association said that clothing came from poor quality of companies that were not members of the trade association.

fillings for mattresses and duvets

"The sending of 'garbage' not only contradicts the obligation of our member companies to sustainability, it is simply not cost -effective.

"Other used clothing is used, for example, to produce fillings for mattresses and duvets or for carsters and insulation and not for African reusing markets," she said.

On Friday evening, Oxfam said that it will expose exports to Ghana while examining the results

A spokesman said: “Oxfam does his best to ensure that as few donated textiles end up on landfills or in the waste, and we are sorry that the process has apparently been neglected in this case. We have exposed the exports to Ghana while we are investigating.

"We carry out environmental and ethics exams among the third parties with which we work with and oblige us to ensure that the donated textiles are exported in a way that corresponds to the values of Oxfam and the effects on human rights, the local economy and the environment. reduce that clothing ends as a waste.

"While we want to collect money to combat poverty, Oxfam aims to export high -quality textiles to countries in which there is a known lack of clothing at affordable prices, where there is little competition with the local clothing industry and where clothing is being borne. Local climate and which we could not sell in Great Britain. ”