Sunday, April 16th 3:00- 5:30 PM
Have you ever thought about what happens to your old clothes after you drop them off for donations? It might be time to start because these goodwill gestures are helping to fuel an environmental catastrophe on the other side of the world. ABC Foreign Correspondent Linton Besser travels to Ghana to uncover the dirty secret behind the world’s fashion addiction.
Kantamanto in Ghana is the largest secondhand market in the world. An estimated 15 million used garments are sent to Ghana each week from Europe, the U.K., North America, and Australia. More than 2.5 million people rely on this market for jobs. However, upon arrival, about 40-60% of garments are deemed damaged or of such poor quality that they cannot be fixed or sold. In addition, the overwhelming import of these items has destroyed the domestic garment industry and impacted human and ecological health in the surrounding communities.
Join Remake Ambassador Nichole Lawrence in the film screening of ABC's Mini-doco, "Dead White Man's Clothes: The Environmental Disaster that is Fuelled by Used Clothes and Fast Fashion" and an engaging discussion with the audience on post-consumer waste and the root of the problem: overproduction and consumption of low-quality clothing.