Textile Mountain - The hidden burden of our fashion waste
Summary
TLDRThe video script highlights the economic and environmental impact of second-hand clothing (mitumba) in Kenya. It explores how these imports, primarily from countries like the UK and US, offer affordable fashion but contribute to environmental challenges. The script covers personal stories of individuals making a living through the mitumba trade, while also discussing the strain on local textile industries and the pollution caused by discarded clothing. It concludes with efforts towards sustainability, such as recycling, eco-friendly fashion initiatives, and the importance of collective responsibility in protecting the environment.
Takeaways
- 👕 Fred runs a second-hand clothes business called 'mokuba' in the Kenyan market.
- 💸 The appeal of second-hand clothes (known as 'mitumba') in Kenya is largely due to their affordability and availability.
- 🌍 Mitumba clothes are imported from various countries like the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
- ⚖️ Fred mentions challenges with quality control, noting that up to 50% of the clothes can be damaged and unsellable.
- 🗑️ Improper disposal of damaged clothes creates environmental problems, especially with waste clogging rivers and drainage systems.
- 🚮 The Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi is a major environmental and health hazard, causing respiratory diseases due to smoke inhalation from waste.
- 🌱 Fred is part of a group that regularly cleans the rivers but faces challenges due to the constant accumulation of waste, particularly textiles.
- 🌿 There is a growing movement for sustainable fashion, including companies that focus on recycling and upcycling textiles.
- 👗 A social network called New Wardrobe encourages people to share clothes within their community to reduce waste and promote sustainability.
- ♻️ The video emphasizes the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling to address environmental challenges posed by waste, particularly textiles.
Q & A
What type of business does Fred own?
-Fred owns a shop where he sells second-hand clothes, also known as 'mitumba' in Kenya.
Why are mitumba clothes popular in Kenya?
-Mitumba clothes are popular because they are cheap, portable, and accessible, making them affordable for many people in Kenya.
From which countries does Kenya import mitumba clothes?
-Kenya imports mitumba clothes from countries like the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
What are the challenges Fred faces in the mitumba business?
-Fred faces challenges such as inconsistent quality of clothes, with 50% sometimes being damaged and unsellable. He also struggles with waste management from unsellable items.
What environmental issues are associated with the mitumba business?
-The mitumba business contributes to environmental problems like waste accumulation, especially when unsellable clothes are discarded in drainage systems, causing flooding and pollution.
How does the mitumba business impact local textile industries in Kenya?
-The mitumba business has negatively impacted local textile industries, as the high volume of imported clothes makes it difficult for local manufacturers to compete.
What is the Dandora dump site, and why is it significant?
-The Dandora dump site is the largest in Kenya, located in Nairobi. It is significant because it is poorly managed, leading to serious environmental and health issues, such as respiratory diseases due to smoke from burning waste.
What health problems do residents near the Dandora dump site face?
-Residents near the Dandora dump site face respiratory diseases, especially children, due to exposure to smoke and other pollutants from the improperly managed dump site.
What initiatives are being taken to address environmental waste from textiles?
-Initiatives such as groups like 'Going Green' are cleaning rivers and slum areas of waste, while companies like Soko are focusing on ethical green manufacturing to recycle waste materials into high-quality products.
How does the concept of circular economy apply to the fashion industry in this script?
-The circular economy in fashion involves taking waste materials, such as unused samples from big industries, and repurposing them into new, high-value products, thus reducing waste and promoting sustainability.
Outlines
👨👩👧👦 A Family Man Running a Business in Kenya
Fred, a Kenyan man with a family, owns a second-hand clothing shop in To market. Known as 'mokuba,' this market sells affordable clothes, primarily imported from countries like the UK, USA, Canada, and Germany. Fred discusses how these clothes are cost-effective and popular, supporting his family through education and employment. However, he mentions declining quality in recent years, with about 50% of the clothes being unusable, resulting in waste and environmental harm.
😔 Struggles with Waste and Environmental Impact
Fred expresses his frustration with the waste from damaged clothes, which not only affects his profits but also creates environmental issues. Poor waste management leads to blocked drainage systems, polluted rivers, and unhealthy living conditions. Fred is part of a community group that cleans the rivers, but they constantly face waste, including textiles and mattresses, reappearing the next day. Flooding worsens the problem, damaging homes and belongings, and making living conditions unbearable.
😷 Health Risks from Nairobi’s Largest Dumpsite
The Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi is a major source of pollution. Waste is dumped haphazardly, often near households, leading to respiratory illnesses, especially in children. The smoke from the dumpsite is a significant health hazard, affecting the entire community. Residents frequently experience health issues due to the waste and lack of proper waste disposal systems, turning their environment into a dangerous living space.
♻️ Green Manufacturing and the Impact on Kenya’s Textile Industry
Kenya was once known for its thriving textile industry, but the introduction of second-hand clothes (mitumba) severely impacted local manufacturing. Mitumba is cheaper, making it hard for local factories to compete. A green manufacturing company, Soko, aims to incorporate ethical and sustainable practices. The founder, inspired by seeing waste in the fashion industry, focuses on a circular economy by repurposing waste into high-quality products, helping to reduce the environmental impact.
👗 Sustainable Fashion and Sharing Clothes through Community
The concept of 'New Wardrobe' introduces a social network where members share clothes within their local community. By paying a membership fee, users can upload and borrow clothes, promoting a sustainable fashion culture. The goal is to reduce overconsumption by sharing underused clothing items. The platform aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 12, which encourages responsible production and consumption. The community-driven approach allows people to enjoy fashion without the need for excessive wardrobe ownership.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mitumba
💡Environmental Impact
💡Donora Dump Site
💡Sustainability
💡Circular Economy
💡Textile Industry
💡Waste Management
💡Respiratory Diseases
💡Slow Fashion
💡Overconsumption
Highlights
Fred, a family man, owns a shop selling second-hand clothes, known locally as 'mitumba'.
Mitumba clothes in Kenya come from various countries like the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany, and are shipped through the port of Mombasa.
The business of selling mitumba has grown since 1996, but there are issues with quality degradation, leading to significant waste.
Fred notes that around 50% of the mitumba stock can be damaged or unsellable, which creates environmental problems.
Kenya faces challenges with waste management, with dumpsites located along roads and riverbeds, contributing to pollution during rain.
Fred mentions the environmental impact of mitumba waste, clogging drainage systems and causing flooding, especially in slum areas.
Fred is part of a community group that cleans river areas, but he expresses frustration as waste quickly accumulates again.
A major challenge in waste management is the Donora dumpsite, which is the largest in Kenya, causing respiratory diseases among nearby residents.
Soko, a Kenyan company, focuses on sustainable fashion by rethinking production processes and reducing textile waste.
Kenya's textile industry was once a major force, but the rise of mitumba imports negatively impacted local manufacturing.
Mitumba imports outcompete local textile production due to their lower cost, but they create environmental and economic challenges.
A shift towards circular economies in fashion is highlighted, with companies repurposing waste materials into high-quality products.
Sustainable fashion advocates push for slower, more mindful consumption of clothing, encouraging quality over quantity.
New Wardrobe, a social network for sharing clothes, promotes sustainable fashion by allowing members to borrow clothes from each other, reducing overconsumption.
The transcript concludes with a call for more responsible behavior towards environmental conservation, focusing on reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Transcripts
[Music]
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my name is Fred married with two
children so I'm a favor man I also own a
shop whereby I sell second hand clothes
which we draw as mokuba in this market
in to market you find everything you
need t-shirts like like yeah
Reebok yeah yeah like that yeah all of
them
the a very very common in the in this
pocket and the first going the reason
why Mathura is very much common in Kenya
and is well liked in Caen is because
most is very cheap they achieve they are
portable because the achieve must be for
the pet owners
[Music]
they are me tumor from UK United Kingdom
your army tumor from America we have new
tumors from Canada we have metal from
Australia we have me tumor from Germany
so the very units from many countries it
is then shipped here in Kenya passes
through the port of Mombasa and of
rodents and then taken to the gold ants
in the central business area of Mombasa
where we go and get them and buy them
from a me to Becerra in the whole part
of my life and this is where my family
feel um I - kids I have gone through
education room with me to my business I
have stalled I have employed people from
these business so it has her and pride
other people and I would say that it has
good returns in 1996 there are few
people who you saw Selma tuba and
Sarah's increased the Gordon's also
increased but we failed sometimes I miss
that the quality is degree me when we
opened the very Macumba sometimes you
find that the quality is so why you find
that half of the mirror is actually
something that go to waste can go to
waste and have average sound horses good
Rwanda my own a mere 50 percent is
damage if the 50% that tastes bad
usually you have to throw them in the
dustbin or ban and because it's all
Dutch in the environment Igorot are 23k
and you can't see how they are we can't
even sell it are 10 shillings unless you
ban him he has no profits you see the
market whom do you expect to be like
this as I opened for 23,000 I expect to
get hurt around and see 10,000 profits
after 2 weeks while after 1 week when
they are nice but are the movements the
ones that I got yesterday I know it
turns me back no one can buy a dirty
clothes listen me I'm not happy
because of that lack of that kind of
proper management of West the end of
into our dump sites the most of the
dances we have they adjust along the
roads along the river beds so at the end
of the day we find them when it rains
you find the Yahoo we put in the
drainage the water standing you find it
smelling everywhere daya like when it's
raining is very bad the rivers are
actually all of them dirty yeah and even
the count government then the cloud
covered a desert doesn't have the
capacity doing any any kind of clean
system
[Music]
I feel like there's a big environmental
impact because it's cheap so your your
mentality is always like you know where
to get it you can always get it at any
time because it comes in in plenty you
know it comes in in plenty so you can
always go back and buy
[Music]
I'm a part of a group which cleans the
river slum going green so each and every
day we go and clean like a certain area
we go there the next day it's full of
that waste disposal again so it's crazy
much of these things that we find when
we are cleaning the river with my other
group members they are number one
clothing like textiles and mattresses
mattresses and bed sheets you continue
to dig deeper you'll just find clothing
[Music]
when it rains more that river becomes
this side like this enters in all of
these houses here so nowhere to sleep
even you can't do anything all house in
emerg even we can't even find a place to
eat to sleep here because if it bad
everything bad chairs cooking utensils
does everything get damaged so you can't
even stand to see how your house look
like
I've been sick because of the flooding
of the river it destroys my home my
peace of mind
[Music]
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the Donora dump site is the largest dump
site in Kenya and in Nairobi as the
capital city by all everybody disposes
their waste to dandera dump sites
[Music]
Weston dendera is not organized when
other people are coming to dispose the
waste in Donora the as long as the gate
space they'll just dispose it off
whether it is near a household or any
any open field that they get one of the
major challenges that we experience us
the residence of tindora is the smoke
the smoke that has caused a lot of
respiratory diseases and for that only
we we have a warden we have a specific
space in Kanata National Hospital for
people from Dan Dora this smoke is
inhaled with people around the dumpsite
and that is a cause for respiratory
diseases especially for children who
like playing a lot in near the dump site
or even walk through the dump site we're
going to and from school
it's like the drone in the West to us
because atap acid is good interpret
wasn't bad
it's like he's dumping this dam yeah
don't let that mean it was to us and
that's the Menace we have now
[Music]
Soko is coming manufacturing company
that incorporates ethical green in
manufacturing in the alidade Kenya used
to be a force to reckon with when it
comes to textile manufacturing it had a
couple of renown textile mills that used
to supply fabric for the local market as
well as for export but in the late 90s
the textile industry took a hit from the
introduction of new tomba which affected
quite a number of people because it used
to employ directly and indirectly more
than half a million people the resident
me tomba has definitely impacted the
textile industry in Kenya because the
import is way higher than what the
Kenyan factory can produce it's not
possible to compete with me tomba for a
textile to be sustainable
[Music]
[Laughter]
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I was working for a fashion brand in
Brussels and that went bankrupt ten or
eleven years ago and then I decided at
that moment that I wanted to work
fashion otherwise I wanted to wrestling
the way I was working fashion and that
was the beginning of this idea but is
that yo we want to focus on
sustainability we want to focus on a
slow fashion we can say that it is at
your we craft into beauty what otherwise
should be burned in my experience with
the industry I have seen that every six
months this big industry produce a lot
of samples which are becoming waste and
I was determined to use them well if we
imagine that in the economy in general
there is the linear economy which lives
and dies and becomes waste what I do in
my economy circular is this waste I take
it and I put it back to the market and
with these raw materials if we can say I
put high value quality products and they
live again and again and we close the
loop
I would like to think in a future where
fashion becomes more sustainable which
means that more green and when I said
green I think about the planet I think
about rethinking the way we act when we
are consumers I know that our system
push us to over-consume but I think it's
it's the mission that we have everyone
to rethink the way we proceed when we
are faced to buy something and it is
better sometimes to buy one thing more
than three and pay for it for the work
and the values that it contains
[Music]
[Laughter]
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new wardrobe is a social network it's an
open community to be able to share your
clothes or people in your local
community so it's a way of being able to
access fashion in a more sustainable way
you join as a member you pay a flat
membership fee and you upload your own
piece to share once you shared your own
piece on the platform you're able to
borrow from anyone in a community
without any additional course so it's
all about getting the pieces that aren't
getting enough love in your wardrobe out
there in the world and start sharing
them as a company we work towards
sustainable development goal 12 which is
responsible production and consumption
and this is a really great great way to
be able to actually benchmark what we do
as the company and understand
fundamentally what kind of society we
need to create new is built by a
community so in any given location we
create a community of like-minded people
who really want to see new thrive and
who want to share clothes and who want
to enjoy fashion in a more sustainable
way and so I guess we're working with
the kind of mindset that we all have
enough pieces and we all have these
events to go with but really with new
you don't need to have a Wardrobe full
of 50 dresses you can just have one
dress and 50 new friends
[Music]
[Applause]
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[Applause]
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options
[Music]
take it no more no reason to bring in a
choc from all the plastic and os2
material being disposed
take a trip down a robbery but I promise
my look in the flow of water fish is
machine to chew on it there's really
nothing to see here
we are careless tuna careless for the
rivers that came before us give us water
plus it's a natural resource to to get
our resources this story put us in
charge so let us take charge let us take
charge
[Music]
[Music]
we have rivers then took on a clean
break
oh and we have Felix then we have more
fish feeding up the nation everything
it's all good now we collect we play
disgust come on get him I died I would
die for this pickup to kill I'm fit and
I choose a comma y making sure
innovations don't try our going
[Music]
now I can I'm to the to the no mere
secret image I know me you know shuffle
na+
give you some a kiss I really need to do
something to change reduce reuse recycle
stop turning our forests into dumping
site keep the bad side to a guy in a
Futuna oxide otherwise you are messed up
[Music]
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it's crazy
[Music]
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