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Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

abc.net.au

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Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#21

Post by tetromino_ »

Bostonian wrote: post #11

It's not just whites that buy and discard clothes in the western world. Why does the title racialize the problem? A better title would have been "Charity clothes from the West fuel ..."

The article claims to translate the Akan term for these clothes:

> In Ghana, they call them “obroni wawu” — dead white man’s clothes.

However, a language blogger [1] suggests that "obroni" can refer to any foreigner from "beyond the horizon" - so presumably the term encompasses dead East Asian man's clothes too.

[1] http://languagehat.com/spruik-kayayei-obroni-wawu/

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#22

Post by rascul »

skinkestek wrote: post #7
wodenokoto wrote: post #5

My local charity/recycling bin for clothes/garment explicitly asks for permanently stained or ripped clothes as these can be used as cloth in factories. I’d be pretty pissed if they just ship it out to the third world and rip off some local business man. I could have thrown it out locally. No need to ship trash to Africa.

10 years ago or so I saw plastic wapped bundles of shredded cottonwear in the shelves at a mechanic shop I frequented at the time so some of it clearly has taken that path.

I've found that old clothes can often make excellent rags for when I'm working on vehicles or staining a wood project.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#23

Post by throw_m239339 »

jaclaz wrote: post #13
Bostonian wrote: post #11

It's not just whites that buy and discard clothes in the western world. Why does the title racialize the problem? A better title would have been "Charity clothes from the West fuel ..."

It is not the title issue, the title comes from the local language expression: >They call them "obroni wawu" — dead white man's clothes.

An editor still chose a controversial title, to "maximize engagement". Whatever these people call it doesn't justify the title of that feature piece.

I think this constant race baiting and divisiveness western media chose to engage into will help no one on the long run, only further resentment and race strife.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#24

Post by aaron695 »

This racist stuff has been done before by the Australian's in Korle Lagoon, last time e-waste -

https://africasacountry.com/2019/03/six-myths-about-electron...

Leave the basement for a while and talk to garment factory workers in a developing country, then go down the road and talk to the hookers.

You'll see no difference. The hookers are very practised at seeming happy to keep clients happy.

But perhaps after going home you can think logically and see how teens doing fast fashion are better human beings than hippies eating local foods.

Sure, recycling clothing, which is the case in this story makes my point worse. But that's how it all is. Complex.

Rough guide, if people are doing it, it's the best they have on offer.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#25

Post by throw_m239339 »

cyberpsybin wrote: post #18
Bostonian wrote: post #11

It's not just whites that buy and discard clothes in the western world. Why does the title racialize the problem? A better title would have been "Charity clothes from the West fuel ..."

western countries that dump their trash in poor nations are primarily white.

Not all western countries define their societies along racial lines. It's mainly US society who engages in that behavior.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#26

Post by robjan »

bserge wrote: post #8
ovi256 wrote: post #2

> The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014: nearly 14 items of clothing for every person on earth That may not be as outrageous as it seems. The world population may not have doubled since 2000, but the number of people out of deep poverty may have, so of course they'll buy clothing. That still doesn't excuse fast fashion, which is so wasteful…

That's not outrageous. The only part that might be is that some people have 1-2 sets of clothes for years while others have 50+ every few months. But tbf at least they're donated en masse.

The article pretty much demonstrates that donation doesn't solve the wate problem.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#27

Post by vidarh »

Causality1 wrote: post #4

We’re buying 60 per cent more clothes now than we did 15 years ago. This is something I find baffling. I have a clothes closet and a chest of drawers. They comfortably hold more than enough for me to go a week or two without doing laundry. When I've worn too many holes in something for me to patch and use as outdoor work wear it goes in the garbage. That people have such an addiction to buying new clothes they have t…

In high school at one point when discussing the amount of agricultural space goes to cotton, the teacher asked how many pairs of trousers we each had. I had two. I hated going shopping, and two was enough for me to wear one pair while the others were in the wash.

A bit on the low end, maybe. I have a few more now, but still mostly cycle 2-3.

Several of my class mates claimed to have 40+. I couldn't even imagine that. More than a dozen was the norm.

Totally baffling to me as well. It just feels like added stress.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#28

Post by wirthjason »

Interesting article.

On discussing buying clothes sight unseen the article mentioned:

    It’s only once a bale has been opened that the quality of the clothing is discovered. If it’s in good condition, profits can tally quickly to as much as $14,000. But if the clothes are torn or stained, or long out of fashion, their importer may as well have put a torch to their money.
I find it interesting that the clothes they want and will pay money for fits the description of what clothes people in developed nations want too. Human nature is quite the same no matter where you go.

Id be curious to know what other factors impact price/demand. Eg. Brands, materials, styles/designs, etc.

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#29

Post by atlasunshrugged »

Really interesting having just come back from a project in Kenya (and a vacation in Uganda) and one of the really striking things was how many older American/EU clothes were on the street (e.g. sweaters from smaller colleges, shirts referencing mid-sized sporting events for american football). I asked a few of the people I was working with about it and they were quite negative, along with cheap Chinese imports, it has really hurt the domestic textile market to the point where it's basically been wiped out of existence because they can't compete with these imports.

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/global-markets/af...

Re: Many of the clothes we donate to charity end up dumped in landfill

#30

Post by yardie »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #25
cyberpsybin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

western countries that dump their trash in poor nations are primarily white.

Not all western countries define their societies along racial lines. It's mainly US society who engages in that behavior.

> Not all western countries define their societies along racial

Yes, those other western countries are 90-99% white so whiteness is overtly implied since any other race is an anomaly. You probably haven't been asked the notorious 6-worded question, "but where are you really from?" that seems to only happen to people of color in western European countries.

> mainly US society who engages in that behavior.

Yes, racism is literally written into the constitution of the US with many compromises for slaveholding states at the time of its founding.

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