Everyday, we mindlessly toss our waste into bins or donate clothes as soon as they don’t fit our style, ignorant of where it will all end up. The system in which we simply discard our waste, never to be seen again, is a system only some can enjoy. In the United States and other parts of the Global North, we have adopted this linear system of creating and throwing away products. But what happens at the end of this cycle is where the problem lies – an issue widely known as waste colonialism.
Waste colonialism is a term that describes how developed countries export their waste to less developed countries, deepening global inequality. Through waste colonialism, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and other developed countries are able to overproduce waste and face few consequences. Instead, countries such as Ghana, Malaysia, Morocco and Vietnam are left to clean up the mess.
A prime example of waste colonialism is in Agbogbloshie, Ghana, home to one of the biggest electronic waste dumps in the world. There, children are exposed to heavy metals from the piles of electronic waste in their community. Accra, Ghana has a similar struggle. Home to Kantamanto Market, one of the largest second-hand textile markets in the world, Accra also bears the forefront of waste colonialism. While Kantamanto Market is a way that around 30,000 people make a living through buying and reselling clothes, the amount of clothing they get does more harm than good. Most of the clothing sent to the market is made of cheap materials like polyester or is in bad condition. Due to this, of the 15 million garments imported in Ghana every week, around 40% of it ends up as waste. That’s about 6 million garments piling up in landfills and on beaches weekly, polluting the places people call home.
In order to solve waste colonialism and the deepening inequality it creates worldwide, we need to adopt circular systems. For clothing, we must invest in quality pieces that we care for and mend for many years. We must create better recycling systems so electronic waste can be repurposed, rather than being shipped off to landfills. We must regulate single-use plastic and focus on infinitely recyclable materials like metal and glass. By focusing on our consumer habits while also holding corporations accountable for their production, we can end waste colonialism, solving social and environmental issues for people worldwide.
