How donated clothes meant for Canadians ended up in Africa [Video]

This is the first of a four-part investigative series by CTV W5 into the seedy underbelly of the lucrative clothing donation bin industry. W5 correspondent Jon Woodward and producer Joseph Loiero put a spotlight on how some of the clothes Canadians donate to charity end up in markets in Africa. 

It’s a charitable act that many of us don’t think twice about: giving away old clothes and other items to clothing donation bins that seem to pop up at strip malls, near schools, and throughout urban areas in Canada.

And while many bins are connected to the charities who provide those items to needy Canadians, a W5 investigation has shown that many are not.

Using trackers tied to donated items, the investigation tied some apparently charitable bins or bins aimed to support local needy people to for-profit players that took some of our clothes more than 7,400 kilometres away to Tunisia, in Northern Africa.

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