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Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

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Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#131

Post by type0 »

Dma54rhs wrote: post #91
gexla wrote: post #31

Hopefully the climate change issue could motivate to change this. Even if this stuff is piling up in a place sight unseen from the origin, it's still coming back to that origin in ways which we don't well understand. Just as the pandemic accelerated global cooperation and change, so could the climate issue. If the US wanted to shut down this problem, regulators could find the key spot to put a bullet into. Ideally th…

What I've anecdotally seem is that it makes these fast fashion "green brands" pop up who claim to plant trees or use "organic" materials instead of common sense reuse, recycle point of view.

If they would sell clothes from recycled fabrics, the quality would probably be very poor. The technology to separate fabrics of mixed content (cotton, synthetics) is not good enough.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#132

Post by AussieWog93 »

McMiniBurger wrote: post #128
vasco wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast fashion only opens the door for "fun" to be had be normal people. Rich people going on a buying spree has generally always been a thing.

Quoted post unavailable.

>Maybe major brands should research & launch clothes with "eco-friendly cloth-fiber" that disintegrates / can be recycled / etc?

Such as cotton?

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#133

Post by AussieWog93 »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #115
AussieWog93 wrote: post #69

I'm in e-commerce, and reading through this thread I think many people have the misconception that people make purchases to solve problems and want that solution to last as long as possible. In reality, and this is something I spent a long time coming to terms with, much shopping is done because it's fun. Spending money isn't a cost - it's the whole point of the exercise.

It's possible for both to be true. People make purchases that are fun, and they'd like said purchases to solve some problem (and preferably with decent quality). Like, when I make silly gadget purchases, yes it's fun to acquire the gadgets, but I'd like them to be good products that last too.

>but I'd like them to be good products that last too.

How much does this really affect your purchase, though?

If you bought a Garmin watch that failed after 3 years, would you buy the new model?

What if the same thing happened with your car and they refused to fix it? Would you buy the same brand again, or would you tell every single person you know to avoid them like the plague?

I think the thing is, that above $X, people really do expect a product to solve a problem effectively. Under that amount, though, much of what people spend is just frittered away.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#134

Post by 317070 »

seb1204 wrote: post #125
a0-prw wrote: post #113

Donations of clothes from the West can also undermine local clothing industries. This also happened with "cheap" milk powder from the EU to (iirc) Ghana. Ghana was helping to finance the EU's overproduction of milk.

I have heard that chicken necks and feet are exported to China from EU Same for pig feet.

I reckon more pig feet end up in cat and dog food than end up in a recognisable form in Chinese cuisine.

In the West, people eat a lot of pig feet too! It's just sold as mince.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#135

Post by r_hoods_ghost »

a0-prw wrote: post #113

Donations of clothes from the West can also undermine local clothing industries. This also happened with "cheap" milk powder from the EU to (iirc) Ghana. Ghana was helping to finance the EU's overproduction of milk.

This is an important point. Establishing a clothing / textile industry has historically been the first step on the rung to industrialisation and moving from a low income, resource extraction based economy to a medium income manufacturing based economy, despite the deservedly poor reputation of the textile industry for environmental damage and labour exploitation.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#136

Post by stevekemp »

dexwiz wrote: post #49
deathanatos wrote: post #19

> Today, the average American buys 68 new items of clothing per year. > “You wonder, do people in America have so much money that they can just wear things once and then throw them away?” I uh… I too would like to know. What scares me is that the use of whatever demographic is causing that average has to be way higher than the actual average, but this feels like it has to be bimodal. And there are lots of these numbe…

Living with my girlfriend really opened my eyes to how many clothes women go through. She even tries to be responsible about it and sell items to second hand markets, but I still think it’s a bit crazy. - Women’s fashion cycles much faster then men’s. Office wear is a bit more stable but anything aimed as social settings like weddings may only provide a few opportunities to wear it before it’s out of style. Men can r…

My wife spent the past two years not buying new clothes, or donating things to offset any essential purchases. She buys almost exclusively from used/vintage clothing stores and at one point had a very small wardrobe.

(I think the term is "capsule wardrobe"?)

But I guess this stuff varies an awful lot depending on your occupation, and activities. She works in the medical field so she never wears her own clothes at work, for example. I suspect if you get a uniform of some kind, like that, then you don't need to worry quite so much about fashion..

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#137

Post by 8589934591 »

I have started buying clothes from USA _because_ they are of higher quality. Even though they are made in my India, they are usually not available for sale here. The quality and variety available for exports is drastically different from what is available for the local market. Mine have lasted at least 2-3 years before I buy a new set of clothes.

I wonder why there is a huge churn in USA to keep buying new clothes. Is it just more affordable/cheaper to buy than to mend your clothes? Easier access that makes it binge buy quickly? Too many special occasions? I am confused cos I feel they haven't seen inferior quality of clothing that they don't keep their belongings longer.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#138

Post by polshaw »

Ekaros wrote: post #120
_trampeltier wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also chicken wings. In the EU, nobody wants to eat chicken wings, just the bigger chicken meat parts. So the chicken wings end up for almost free in Africa and also destroyed every chicken farm, because the where more expensive than the chicken from EU.

Looking at the Chinese cuisine one starts to wonder about other parts. Wings are relatively popular, but what about things like feet, neck, head and organs? What we do with all of them? As clearly they are not even on the full birds. Same goes for pigs. You can buy some, but the ratio is entirely off.

Interesting factlet; in Thailand chicken feet sell for over twice the price by weight compared to chicken breast (which is the cheapest part!). Despite a tiny amount of that weight being actual edible meat.

I have also seen them sold in supermarkets in Portugal, to my surprise.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#139

Post by wccrawford »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #133
TulliusCicero wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible for both to be true. People make purchases that are fun, and they'd like said purchases to solve some problem (and preferably with decent quality). Like, when I make silly gadget purchases, yes it's fun to acquire the gadgets, but I'd like them to be good products that last too.

>but I'd like them to be good products that last too. How much does this really affect your purchase, though? If you bought a Garmin watch that failed after 3 years, would you buy the new model? What if the same thing happened with your car and they refused to fix it? Would you buy the same brand again, or would you tell every single person you know to avoid them like the plague? I think the thing is, that above $X,…

This happened to me with Fitbit. The first lasted longer than 3 years, and I was happy with that. The second didn't, and I wasn't... But I bought another. When that failed early, too, I gave up on them.

For a tool, I don't want it to fail on me, ever. I don't enjoy learning to use a new tool for the same old purpose. I want it to just keep working. When I'm ready for a new way of that tool working, I seek it out. I do not want it forced on me.

That said, I also treat clothes as a tool. I buy new ones when I want something different, but until then I want them to continue as they had. When I'm sick of them or they wear out, I use them for woodworking, painting, etc, until they finally just are too ugly or damaged.

Re: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

#140

Post by rootsudo »

sangnoir wrote: post #92
AussieWog93 wrote: post #69

I'm in e-commerce, and reading through this thread I think many people have the misconception that people make purchases to solve problems and want that solution to last as long as possible. In reality, and this is something I spent a long time coming to terms with, much shopping is done because it's fun. Spending money isn't a cost - it's the whole point of the exercise.

Did shopping become fun because fast-fashion clothes were cheap, or did clothes become cheap because shopping is fun? I'm also e-commerce-adjacent, but I believe fast-fashion (especially synthetics) is bad for humanity. Sure, people are making loads of money[1], but it's an ecological disaster in the making. 1. Me included, but only getting a little. Shein is getting ALL the money.

You're confusing this just with "fast fashion clothes." Shopping can be anything. Also in e-comm, but have good prices, social media approval and you can sell anything for a cause, because it's popular or such.
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