Where do the clothes go after we put them in a recycling bin? An 11-month investigation covering thousands of kilometers

Where do the clothes go after we put them in a recycling bin? An 11-month investigation covering thousands of kilometers

On the beaches of Accra, the sea vomits up old clothes. The sand in Akuma Village is covered with a carpet of shoes and plastics entangled with shirts, shoelaces and pants. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what is currently floating in the ocean. A few miles away on solid ground rises a series of multi-colored hills. This is no idyllic landscape, but rather, gigantic mountains of used clothing that has come from Europe, China and the United States. Some are on fire, emitting black toxic smoke from the combustion of synthetic fibers. It leaves the air thick, sour-smelling.

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Direction and editorial coordination:

Ana Carbajosa

Format coordination:

Brenda Valverde Rubio and Guiomar del Ser

Art direction:

Fernando Hernández

Design:

Ruth Benito

Development:

Alejandro Gallardo

Data:

Daniele Grasso

Video editing:

Álvaro González Roldán

With additional reporting by:

Alejandra Agudo, Lucía Bohórquez, Ferrán Bono, Mervin Canham, Andrés Herrero Gutiérrez, Juan Navarro, Mikel Ormazabal, Eva Saíz, Nacho Sánchez, Raquel Seco and Sonia Vizoso. 

 This project was made possible thanks to the support of Greenpeace in the placement and monitoring of the geolocators.