How UK clothing donations can end up dumped in Chile’s Atacama Desert

Clothes given to recycling banks in the UK may not be recycled at all. Instead, they can travel thousands of miles and end up illegally dumped in Chile’s Atacama Desert, where an estimated 39,000 tonnes of garments are discarded each year, according to the biggest estimates.

Chile is one of the world’s largest importers of used clothing, taking in 123,000 tonnes annually by government estimates. Much of the trade flows through the Iquique Free Trade Zone, known as Zofri, created in 1975 to spur economic development in the country’s north.

Baled garments arrive from the US, Canada, Europe and Asia in shipping containers, then are resold locally or re-exported to other Latin American markets. Felipe González, general manager of Zofri, says roughly 50 clothing import firms help sustain the local economy.

He describes the sector as a major source of jobs for women in the region, adding that “around 10% work with textiles.” Many are employed sorting garments by quality — work that does not require advanced qualifications. Lower-grade items often end up at La Quebradilla, a vast open-air market near the town of Alto Hospicio, about half an hour uphill from Iquique and still within Zofri.

Rows of tents display piles of shirts, jeans and dresses on plastic sheets, with prices starting at 500 Chilean pesos (54 cents; 42 pence). The market draws tourists and locals hunting for bargains, especially on weekends. But what doesn’t sell creates a persistent waste problem.

The local council’s landfill only accepts household refuse, not commercial imports. That leaves traders with costly options: export the leftovers, pay taxes to sell them beyond the free-trade zone, or send them to an authorised waste company. To avoid those expenses, some operators illegally burn or dump the clothing in the surrounding, bone-dry desert.

For Alto Hospicio’s authorities, enforcement is a struggle. Miguel Painenahuel from the town’s planning department says the geography makes it easy for lorries and trucks to reach remote dumping sites, even as the council deploys patrols with cars and cameras to monitor and fine offenders.

“There are so many trucks dumping clothes it’s really hard to keep on top of it,” he says. “We don’t have the resources.” Amid the mounting waste, a law change has prompted one Chilean company to move to tackle the problem, signalling a potential shift in how the country deals with unsold second-hand clothing.

Details of the effort were not immediately available.