{
  "id": 6749902,
  "title": "How western consumption becomes the Global South's environmental nightmare",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/how-western-consumption-becomes-the-global-souths-environmental",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-11T11:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-western-consumption-global-south-environmental.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Western consumption of goods creates an environmental nightmare in the Global South, where the costs of creating, using and disposing of those products are often shifted to regions with fewer resources to manage them. In Accra, Ghana, thousands of secondhand clothing pieces arrive weekly at the Kantamanto Market, one of the world's largest textile resale hubs. Some clothes find new buyers, while others end up in dumps, waterways or informal landfills. The environmental accountability that applies in Europe or North America doesn't follow these products to Ghana. Even though products are often considered to have completed their journey when donated or discarded, their true end is rarely reached. Electronic waste is a stark example, with only 22.3% of the 62 million metric tonnes generated in 2022 officially collected and recycled. The rest follows untraceable paths, feeding into global markets. In African cities, waste pickers extract valuable metals from used electronics, but these activities are often carried out with inadequate protective gear and under precarious conditions. The textile industry also contributes to the problem, with low-quality clothing often ending up in secondhand markets in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While the Kantamanto market is sometimes praised as a circular-economy success story, it also bears the burden of unsellable clothing, a problem created elsewhere. The circular economy model aims to minimize resource extraction and waste through reuse, repair, recycling, and extending product lifespans. However, debates often focus on technical aspects, neglecting social, political, and territorial issues. This highlights the need for a broader definition of responsibility, one that ensures benefits and costs of products and their end-of-life are shared globally.",
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [
    "Western consumption shifts environmental costs to the Global South.",
    "Accra's Kantamanto Market handles vast amounts of secondhand clothing.",
    "Only 22.3% of global electronic waste is officially collected and recycled."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}