EU countries are dumping 37 million items of junk plastic clothing in Kenya every year.

Junk clothing has been found in some places piled as high as four-storey buildings and spilling into rivers. The amount of junk clothing arriving in the country has significantly increased in the last few years. The clothing is often soiled with vomit, heavy stains or animal hair. It reflects an increase in cheap, disposable fast fashion. Countries like Kenya are fast fashion’s escape valve. Traders buy bundled clothing blind and dump the growing percentage that turns out to be useless. So in effect the addiction to fast fashion saddles poor countries like Kenya with polluted soil, air and water. The backbone of the fast fashion industry is plastic, and plastic clothing is essentially junk. More than two thirds of clothing is now made of plastics like nylon and polyester which are impossible to recycle. Between 2019 and 2020, the EU and the UK exported over five million tons of used textiles. Textiles are sent from the EU not only to Kenya but destinations like Ghana, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Exporting junk clothing to poorer countries has become an escape valve for overproduction. Fashion waste is too dirty or damaged to be reused and creates serious health and environmental problems for vulnerable communities.