As fast fashion's waste pollutes Africa's environment, designers in Ghana are finding a solution

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — In a sprawling secondhand clothing market in Ghana’s capital, early morning shoppers jostle as they search through piles of garments, eager to pluck a bargain or a designer find from the stalls selling used and low-quality apparel imported from the West.

At the other end of the street, an upcycled fashion and thrifting festival unfolds with glamour and glitz. Models parade along a makeshift runway in outfits that designers created out of discarded materials from the Kantamanto market, ranging from floral blouses and denim jeans to leather bags, caps and socks.

The festival is called Obroni Wawu October, using a phrase that in the local Akan language means “dead white man’s clothes.” Organizers see the event as a small way to disrupt a destructive cycle that has made Western overconsumption into an environmental problem in Africa, where some of the worn-out clothes end up in waterways and garbage dumps.

“Instead of allowing (textile waste) to choke our gutters or beaches or landfills, I decided to use it to create something ... for us to use again,” said Richard Asante Palmer, one of the designers at the annual festival organized by the Or Foundation, a nonprofit that works at the intersection of environmental justice and fashion development.

Ghana is one of Africa's leading importers of used clothing. It also ships some of what it gets from the United Kingdom, Canada, China and elsewhere to other West African nations, the United States and the U.K., according to the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association.

Some of the imported clothes arrive in such poor shape, however, that vendors dispose of them to make room for the next shipments. On average, 40% of the millions of garments exported weekly to Ghana end up as waste, according to Neesha-Ann Longdon, the business manager for the Or Foundation’s executive director.

The clothing dealers association, in a report published earlier this year on the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the nation’s secondhand clothing trade, cited a much lower estimate, saying only 5% of the items that reach Ghana in bulk are thrown out because they cannot be sold or reused.

In many African countries, citizens typically buy preowned clothes — as well as used cars, phones and other necessities — because they cost less than new ones. Secondhand shopping also gives them a chance to score designer goods that most people in the region can only dream of.

But neither Ghana's fast-growing population of 34 million people nor its overtaxed infrastructure is equipped to absorb the amount of cast-off attire entering the country. Mounds of textile waste litter beaches across the capital, Accra, and the lagoon which serves as the main outlet through which the city’s major drainage channels empty into the Gulf of Guinea.

“Fast fashion has taken over as the dominant mode of production, which is characterized here as higher volumes of lower-quality goods,” Longdon said.

Jonathan Abbey, a fisherman in the area, said his nets often capture textile waste from the sea. Unsold used clothes “aren’t even burned but are thrown into the Korle Lagoon, which then goes into the sea,” Abbey said.

The ease of online shopping has sped up this waste cycle, according to Andrew Brooks, a King’s College London researcher and the author of “Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes.”

In countries like the U.K., unwanted purchases often end up as charity donations, but clothes are sometimes stolen from street donation bins and exported to places where the consumer demand is perceived to be higher, Brooks said. Authorities rarely investigate such theft because the clothes are "seen as low-value items,” he said.

Donors, meanwhile, think their castoffs are “going to be recycled rather than reused, or given away rather than sold, or sold in the U.K. rather than exported overseas,” Brooks said.

The volume of secondhand clothing sent to Africa has led to complaints of the continent being used as a dumping ground. In 2018, Rwanda raised tariffs on such imports in defiance of U.S. pressure, citing concerns the West's refuse undermined efforts to strengthen the domestic textile industry. Last year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he would ban imports of clothing “from dead people.”

Trade restrictions might not go far in either reducing textile pollution or encouraging clothing production in Africa, where profits are low and incentives for designers are few, experts say.

In the absence of adequate measures to stop the pollution, organizations like the Or Foundation are trying to make a difference by rallying young people and fashion creators to find a good use for scrapped materials.

Ghana's beaches had hardly any discarded clothes on them before the country's waste management problems worsened in recent years, foundation co-founder Allison Bartella said.

“Fast forward to today, 2024, there are mountains of textile waste on the beaches,” she said.

An attendee wears an upcycle outfit during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A model dressed in an upcycled outfit poses during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A woman dressed in second-hand clothes attends a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A man dressed in second-hand clothes attends a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Attendees at a thrift and an upcycle show pose for a photograph in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A young man dressed in a thrift outfit poses for a photograph during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A man dressed in an upcycled outfit poses for a photograph during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A model shows thrift rings during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A lady poses for a photograph during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A designer sets up his upcycle outfit on a mannequin during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Attendees pose for a photograph during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

An upcycle designer poses for a photograph during a thrift and an upcycle show in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

An upcycle designer stitches buttons on an upcycled cloth in the remanufacturing space at the OR Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A pictorial design to be made with textile waste from Kantamanto is displayed on the phone in the remanufacturing space at the OR Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Designers work in the remanufacturing space at the OR Foundation to upcycle textile waste in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Second-hand clothes and waste pollute the beach shore at Jamestown in Accra, Ghana,Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Women sort fish through textile waste on the beach shore at Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Textile waste pollutes the beach shore at Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Volunteers and workers for the OR Foundation partake in a beach clean up at Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Textile waste pollutes the beach shore at Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A head porter carries a bale of Second-hand clothes at Kantamanto market, one of the world's largest second-hand clothes markets in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A head porter carries a bale of Second-hand clothes at Kantamanto market, one of the world's largest second-hand clothes markets in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

A second-hand retailer sorts out clothes at Kantamanto, one of the world's largest second-hand clothing markets, in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

People offload bales of Second-hand clothes from a truck at Kantamanto market, one of the world's largest second-hand clothes markets in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Cows are seen at the largest dumpsite where textile waste ends up at Old Fadama in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — George Russell put Mercedes on the pole for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in an upset over teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had been considered the favorite but struggled in Friday night's final qualifying session.

“It feels incredible to be back on pole, we've been so quick all weekend,” Russell said of the fourth pole of his career. “But I'm just so happy and we've got to do some deep diving to find out why we've been so quick because it's been a bit of a surprise.”

Hamilton was fastest in the first two practice sessions of the weekend with Russell fastest in Friday night's third and final session. But come qualifying, Hamilton made two mistakes in the final group and wound up a distant 10th as Russell will lead the field to green in Saturday night's race.

Russell snagged the top starting spot at the buzzer after Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc seemed to sweep the front row. Russell's late lap then pushed Sainz to second, Pierre Gasly slid into third, and Leclerc wound up fourth.

“That was a tight quali, a bit closer to pole than what I was expecting, I thought I had pole and then George came very, very quick at the end,” Sainz said. “We need to stay confident that tomorrow we could be fighting closer to the front even more than today so that tomorrow we might have a chance at going for the win and that will be the target.”

Championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull qualified fifth. Verstappen needs only to score three points more than challenger Lando Norris on Saturday night to win his fourth consecutive world championship, and the McLaren driver qualified sixth.

Verstappen had struggled for much of the weekend as Red Bull used an incorrect setup on the rear wings of its two cars but claimed the issues had been corrected in time for qualifying.

"The day started off quite tough but we did our best and maximized everything that we could,” Verstappen said. “We did execute everything really well in qualifying and worked well as a team. I am ultimately happy with how it went — I left everything out there and we ended up in P5. Everything looks a lot better than yesterday and hopefully with the things that we changed on the car, we are a bit more competitive tomorrow in the race.”

But the fix didn't help Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who was knocked out of the first group of qualifying for the sixth time this season and will start 16th on Saturday night in Red Bull's uphill fight to remain in the race for the constructor championship. The two-time reigning constructor winners are third in the standings with three races remaining.

“Unbelievable, it doesn't get any better,” Perez said on his radio. “I can't find any grip.”

He later said Las Vegas has been a struggle for Red Bull.

“The whole weekend I've been struggling quite a lot with the grip. It is really hard to put a lap together,” he said. “I did expect a very difficult qualifying and it turned out to be quite a tough one.”

Franco Colapinto, one of the drivers sometimes mentioned as a possible replacement at Red Bull for Perez, had his own miserable qualifying session when he crashed hard into the wall as the second qualifying group came to a close. The contact completely destroyed his Williams less than 24 hours before the start of the race and it was unclear if the Argentine could even compete.

Williams said Calapinto's impact was over 50Gs, which required both a Friday night medical check but a Saturday follow, as well. The team said Calapinto will have to be medically cleared to race.

The crash delayed the start of the the third session and was also another mistake for the 21-year-old Colapinto. He also crashed during the last race at Brazil when, running 16th, he crashed coming onto the main straight as the field was under safety car conditions due to rain.

Although unhurt, the incident cost Williams millions of dollars in damage and the Las Vegas crash only added to the growing total. Colapinto was a midseason replacement for Logan Sargeant, who was fired for underperforming, and will be replaced at Williams next year by Sainz.

He'd overperformed in two of his six races with the team by finishing in the points, but the former F2 driver is now hurting his chances to land an F1 seat in 2025.

Williams took a second hit when Alex Albon also failed to advance out of the first qualifying group.

McLaren driver Lando Norris, of Britain, talks with his crew after the final practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, of the Netherlands, talks with his crew after the final practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, sits in is carvduring qualifications for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, of Spain, drives during the final practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Mercedes driver George Russell, of Britain, waits in the garage area prior to a practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Mercedes driver George Russell, of Britain, waits in the garage before the final practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)