Stakeholders Tour E-Waste Management Centers

Electronic waste fuelled by the accelerated pace of digitalization and the rise in global demand, the market for electronic equipment is expanding rapidly and with the production of electrical and electronic waste (E-Waste).

In Ghana, the vast majority of e-waste is managed under poor environmental, health and safety conditions including open burning of cable and manual disassembling of lead-acid batteries are still widely practices causing environmental pollution and risk to human health.

It is estimated that, 170, 000 tons of e-waste was generated in 2011, 0.2% processed by formal e-waste recyclers, the remaining 99.98% according to reports and data available, was handled by the informal sector consisting of a widespread network of unlicensed collectors, intermediaries, scrap dealers and dismantlers specializing in the manual disassembly and trading of post-consumer electronics.

The massive environmental pollution caused by e-waste, is a lack of improper environmental, health and safety measures which negatively affects the physical well-being of thousands of people in Ghana.

The Environment Committee of Parliament of Ghana, in collaboration with the Electrical and Waste Management Fund under the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and the Environmental Protection Agency embarked on a working visit to familiarize themselves with work being done at the various e-waste management and collection centers in Accra, Koforidua and Kumasi.

The visit, which is part of the oversight responsibility of the lawmakers brought to the attention of the selected committee on environment happenings in the environment.

At Agbogboshie in Accra, a collection center managed by GreenAd (Green Advocacy) has collected about 500 tons of e-waste materials from the scrap dealers who are their main stakeholders in the e-waste collection process. The center collects these waste materials from the dealers and pay them based on the tons one is able to collect, the dealers at the center indicated that, they found the intervention as a way of creating employment for the youth who are unemployed.

The Committee later visited a holding center of E-waste materials at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. The center will be receiving waste materials and build local capacities for thermoplastic and eliminate burning for metal recovery.

The project being implemented will help mitigate the impact of climate change (SDGs goal 13)

The team leader for MESTI E-Waste PIU, Dr. Vincent Nartey Kyere calls for private-sector investment in the E-Waste management agenda and encouraged all stakeholders in the value chain to be more proactive in playing their respective roles diligently to make the project a success.

The project is being funded by the German Development Corporation is in a pilot stage and is expected to end in 2026.

By: Kofi Don-Agor