Textile Mountain - The hidden burden of our fashion waste

Summary

The 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

00:00

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 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.

05:01

😔 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.

10:02

😷 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.

15:04

♻️ 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.

20:05

👗 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.

Keywords

💡Mitumba

Mitumba refers to second-hand clothing that is imported into Kenya from various countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, and others. It is a significant part of Kenya's market because the clothes are cheap and accessible. However, Mitumba also raises concerns regarding quality control, environmental impact, and competition with the local textile industry.

💡Environmental Impact

The video emphasizes the environmental consequences of the widespread use of Mitumba, especially regarding waste management. Poorly managed disposal of damaged clothes and textiles contributes to pollution, clogging rivers, and filling up dumpsites, like the Donora dump site in Nairobi. The video highlights how this waste impacts the community, particularly during floods.

💡Donora Dump Site

Donora is the largest dump site in Nairobi, Kenya, and plays a central role in waste management in the capital. The script describes how the unregulated disposal of waste at Donora contributes to respiratory diseases due to constant smoke and toxic fumes. This issue is particularly harmful to children who live and play near the dump.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability is a key concept in the video, introduced as an alternative to the wasteful practices associated with fast fashion and Mitumba. The video highlights companies and initiatives focused on sustainable fashion, such as circular economies that repurpose waste material into high-quality products. The narrative encourages a shift from overconsumption to mindful consumer behavior.

💡Circular Economy

A circular economy refers to a system where waste is minimized by reusing and recycling products, in contrast to a linear economy, where products are used and then discarded. The video introduces this concept through a fashion company that repurposes waste fabrics and turns them into new, valuable products. This approach is positioned as a more sustainable alternative to the throwaway culture.

💡Textile Industry

Kenya’s textile industry once flourished, employing many people both directly and indirectly. However, the rise of Mitumba has negatively impacted local textile manufacturing, making it difficult for local factories to compete with the abundance of cheap second-hand clothing. The decline of the industry is seen as a challenge to economic sustainability in the region.

💡Waste Management

Waste management is a critical issue raised in the video, particularly regarding the disposal of unsold or damaged Mitumba clothes. Improper waste management leads to serious environmental problems, including pollution of rivers and clogged drainage systems. The video describes the efforts of local groups to clean up these waste sites, but the sheer volume of waste makes the task overwhelming.

💡Respiratory Diseases

Respiratory diseases are a major health concern for people living near the Donora dump site. The constant burning of waste releases toxic smoke, which affects the air quality and leads to long-term health issues, particularly in children. This health risk is one of the negative consequences of poor waste management practices discussed in the video.

💡Slow Fashion

Slow fashion is presented as an ethical and sustainable alternative to fast fashion. It emphasizes quality, durability, and environmental consciousness, encouraging consumers to buy fewer, better-quality garments. The video contrasts this with the rapid turnover of clothing in fast fashion, which contributes to the excessive waste and environmental harm seen with Mitumba.

💡Overconsumption

Overconsumption refers to the excessive purchasing of goods, driven by the availability of cheap clothing like Mitumba. The video critiques this behavior, arguing that it leads to environmental degradation and waste. Instead, the narrative calls for a shift toward mindful consumption, where people buy fewer, higher-quality items that have a longer lifespan and are produced ethically.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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[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

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[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

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[Applause]

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[Applause]

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options

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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

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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

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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

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it's crazy

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