World News for Students of English

04-04-2024 15:00

Globally, less than 1% of clothes are recycled into new ones; discards of clothes are overwhelming countries like Ghana or India.

Every day, people toss away tens of millions of garments to get new ones. When consumers throw away clothes, they do not think about what happens to them. Some of the clothes go to a second-hand supply chain; however, the situation is less common because more clothes are made quickly.

Ghana’s one of the biggest importers of used clothing, and the unwanted clothes arrive by the bale. The local language calls them dead White people’s clothes. The large amount of clothing is unsellable, and around 40% remains in the country as waste.

A reason for the situation is fast fashion. Fast fashion is when garments fall apart after a few washes. Cheap synthetic fabrics are difficult to reuse, and people buy and throw them away too quickly.

In India, millions of tons of used clothing come from North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia; they get turned into car insulation, mattress filling, and cleaning cloths. However, even these products eventually go to a landfill or incinerator.

Difficult words: discard (a thing that’s no longer useful or wanted), bale (a large wrapped bundle of paper, clothing, or other things), incinerator (a device to burn waste).

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