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Where does the UK’s fast fashion end up? I found out on a beach clean in Ghana

There are enough garments in the world to dress the next six generations. Yet the number of clothes being produced in the global north is soaring – and poisoning poorer countries

And it’s complicated: as a freelance journalist, newspaper editors often reply to my pitches with: “Sorry – readers aren’t interested in sustainability.” To pay the bills, I’ve definitely played a part in propagating trends and fuelling the “cerulean” machine, to borrow from The Devil Wears Prada. Every local guide will tell you how, historically, we waged war to ensure UK rule, seized its land, exploited its resources, looted its treasures, and forced its people into slavery (we were reminded of as much just before the beach clean at a visit to Jamestown’s Unesco-funded slave museum, Ussher Fort). “They’re just getting the clothing that people donate.” However, there is more the charity shops could do to be “part of the solution” , she says, adding they could help to calculate the true cost of cleaning, repairing, reselling and upcycling garments in the UK and Ghana, in order to push for EPR fees “that are high enough to do the job”.

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