OPINION
In Uganda, every mother has a secret superpower; buying clothes that can fit for two year, or three. If you grew up here, you probably remember that oversized dress or shirt your mother proudly called ‘Mwana Akula’– meaning the child is growing or will grow. Those days, some people thought it was a little evil trick, but our mothers were simply masters of sustainability.
What we did not know is that this thriftiness was doing more than just saving money but also quietly reducing the amount of textile waste that ends up in landfills suffocating our environment. Fast forward to 2025, the focus of the World Clean Up Day is the textile and fashion waste with Uganda drowning in clothing waste from tailoring offcuts, fast fashion imports and second-hand markets. What once felt like a funny parental hack has now become an urgent national lesson; we must reflect on what we wear, buy and even throw away if we are to keep our country clean and healthy.
What is textile and fashion waste?
Textile waste includes any unwanted, unused fabric or clothing, bags, shoes, tailoring off cuts and worn out fashion items. In Uganda, this waste mainly comes from households, tailors, boutiques, schools and huge second-hand markets like Owino.
Why focus on the textile and fashion waste this year?
Clothing is a necessity, but in Uganda it has become a mixed blessing. Recent statistics raise concerns;
In 2022/23, second hand clothes made up 52.2% of Uganda’s clothing inputs, worth UGX 441.3 billion out of a total UGX 845.3 billion according to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) data.
Imports of secondhand clothing were valued at USD 95.9 million in 2023- more than imports of brand- new clothes, at USD 79.1 million (EPRC Uganda, 2023).
In Kampala’s Owino market alone, around 800,000kg of textile waste is generated during the opening and sorting bales of second hand clothing every year, (WasteAid,2023). Further studies estimate that Uganda discards up to 48 tonnes of textile and fashion waste per day
With the growing textile waste, there could be a business opportunity as individuals and companies can gain a competitive edge in a market where consumers increasingly prioritize ethnical and sustainable choices.
Where does this waste end up?
• Landfills like Kiteezi that are already overwhelmed and threatening people’s lives.
• Drainage systems, leading to malfunctioning and flooding during the rainy season.
• Burning sites, releasing greenhouse gases e.g. carbon dioxide (CO2 ), methane (CH4 ) and other harmful gases.
Water bodies
The environmental and health impacts
• Environmental
Most of the trending clothes globally are made of plastic based materials (polyester, nylon, acrylic) which shed microplastics that never decompose and clog soil and water and harm biodiversity. Clothes also compress degradable materials in landfills since they take more than 200 years to decompose causing them to degrade without oxygen and in this case release methane that is 28 times worse than carbon dioxide in terms of its global warming potential.
• Health
Burning of clothes produces hazardous gases increasing the risks of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases especially in children.
The textile waste dumped in land fills and waterbodies leaches chemicals e.g. dyes which are known to be carcinogenic, persistent and bio accumulative posing a health risk to the people.
What can be done?
We are known to have a culture of thriftiness and creativity, with this, we can reduce textile and fashion waste through;
Reuse – Donate, repurpose worn out clothes into, rugs or door mats, repair torn clothes. Using clothes you already have to make different combinations.
Reduce – Buy only what is needed and durable clothing, rent cloth items and doing laundry carefully.
Recycle – Support projects that turn textile waste into cushions, carpets, or insulation.
Responsible disposal– Avoid burning or dumping in drains; instead, collect waste for sorting and reuse.
Ugandan mothers may not have called it sustainable fashion but their ‘mwana akula’ carried wisdom we can adopt today. As we come together on 20th September 2025, let us remember that what we wear and dispose can affect our health, environment and future.
By Agatha Grace Namuyanja,
Email: agathanamuyanja2@gmail.com
