Every Thursday, massive container ships arrive at the port of Accra, Ghana, carrying bales of used clothing from Europe, North America, and China. These items are then transported to Kantamanto, a sprawling market covering over 20 acres in Accra’s business district. Kantamanto is one of the largest second-hand clothing markets in West Africa, where stalls are filled with garments and shoes from around the world. According to the environmental organization Or Foundation, this market receives an astonishing 15 million pieces of clothing every week—equivalent to six new outfits for every resident of Accra each week. The flow of second-hand clothing began as an act of goodwill. In countries like Europe and the United States, people often donate unwanted clothes to charities, believing they are helping the environment by giving these items a second life. However, only about 10 percent of the donated clothing is actually given to those in need or sold to support the organizations’ causes. The remaining 90 percent is sold to global buyers, many of whom send the clothes to markets like Kantamanto. While this creates a thriving industry in Ghana, it also leads to a significant amount of waste. Approximately 40 percent of the clothing imported into the country ends up discarded, often because it is damaged, outdated, or unsellable. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the local government, spends around $500,000 annually to manage the waste from Kantamanto. However, it can only process about 70 percent of the discarded clothing. The rest is either burned, contributing to air pollution, or dumped in fragile ecosystems. In 2019, Ghana’s only major landfill, Kpone, collapsed under the weight of used clothing, forcing the city to deal with its waste in less controlled ways. Now, discarded textiles end up in rivers, gutters, and eventually the ocean. On beaches near Kantamanto, fishermen like Nii Armah struggle with nets tangled in discarded clothing, which also disrupts their ability to catch fish. Some sections of Accra’s coastline are now covered in mounds of textiles and plastic, reaching over 1.5 meters in height, making it difficult to walk barefoot on the sand. Not far from the beaches, the Old Faduma community has become a dumping ground for Kantamanto’s waste. Once a thriving neighborhood, it now consists of homes built on layers of discarded clothing and other refuse, with a population of around 80,000 people. The paradox is clear: donating clothing in the West is seen as an eco-friendly act, but when scaled to the volume of 15 million items per week, it creates a massive environmental crisis in Ghana. As waste manager Solomon Noi explains, the numbers are staggering—30 million pieces of clothing arrive in Ghana every two weeks, one for every resident. The result is a cycle of waste that neither local budgets nor the efforts of market sorters can fully manage, with tons of textiles either burned or washed into the ocean, reshaping Accra’s landscape and threatening its environment.