How western consumption becomes the Global South's environmental nightmare

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Industrialized countries send millions of metric tonnes of used clothing, electronic equipment and other products to the Global South, along with the environmental and health costs tied to producing, consuming and disposing of those goods. In Accra, Ghana, thousands of pieces of secondhand clothing arrive each week at the Kantamanto Market, one of the world's largest textile resale hubs.

Some of these garments will find a new buyer and get a second life. Others—unsellable or low-quality—will end up in dumps, waterways or informal landfills. The environmental accountability that applied to these products in Europe or North America doesn't follow them to Ghana.

It's a paradox rarely discussed: Materials circulate globally, but environmental responsibility stops at the border. When we drop off a used phone at a collection point, donate clothes to an organization or replace an obsolete computer, we often feel like we've done our part for the environment. But the story doesn't end there.

Many of these items begin a second life elsewhere or simply reach the end of the road, sometimes thousands of kilometers away. This issue came up earlier this year at a symposium titled When the Global South Inspires the Global North, held during the 93rd Acfas (Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences) congress. I attended as part of my research on organizational governance models and the shift toward a regionalized circular economy.

In her opening remarks, Jocelyne Landry Tsonang of the African Circular Economy Network pointed out that products often travel without the responsibility mechanisms, eco-taxes or funding that should come with them. The environmental and social costs associated with the end of a product's life are then shifted to regions that generally have fewer resources to manage them. Electronic waste is a particularly telling case.

According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, the world generated 62 million metric tonnes of electrical and electronic waste in 2022. Yet only 22.3% of this waste was officially collected and recycled through documented channels. The rest often follows paths that are difficult to trace, feeding into complex global markets.