Koforidua is a town situated in southeastern part of Ghana. It lies in the Densu River basin, near the southeastern base of the Kwahu Plateau. Here we find Issah Moro busy in his old scrap metal yard. Issah is the Chairperson of Koforidua Scrap Dealers Association.
“This is our old site,” Issah says, pointing to a yard with scrap metal vying for every available space.
A weighing machine with its hook pointing menacingly downwards has taken a vintage position. Here, every single piece is capable of inflicting harm albeit in a different manner.
A project known as Ghana e-waste model (GEMOD) project under the Ghana Environment Protection Agency, and which was implemented with support of the SWITCH Africa Green Programme to promote sustainable and environmentally sound management of e-waste in Ghana came calling in the town. The result; a framework for e-waste management was developed transforming the challenges experienced in the sector into economic opportunities for the operators of e-waste in the formal and informal sectors.
With the usage of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) on the rise, the amount of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) produced each day keeps growing enormously around the globe.
In Ghana, about 79% of e-waste collection activities are dominated by the informal sector. This brings a challenge in that the collection of e-waste is characterized by environmentally unsound practices. Primitive recycling techniques such as burning cables to retain the inherent copper, exposes both adult and child workers as well as their families to a range of hazardous substances. E-waste plastic is bulky and takes up a lot of space at scrap yards with refurbishing shops containing a lot of hazardous chemicals such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and which release furans, dioxins, and other noxious substances into the atmosphere when they are burnt.
E-waste also contains materials that have economic value when extracted. When proper extraction processes are used, e-waste can generate large volumes of the valuable fractions which are able to be re-introduced into production streams.
GEMOD project addressed the challenges faced in e-waste collection, refurbishment, dismantling and sorting, safe disposal of hazardous components and export of recyclables in order to provide a solution to the unsustainable e-waste management in Ghana.
After the project implementation, reduction in air pollution from burning of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was achieved. Initially there had been an acute use of environmentally unsound dismantling methods and cable stripping through burning. Before the project, recyclers did not have any use for these fractions and burnt them resulting in air and land pollution. The project implementation also resulted in an increase in material use productivity as a result of reduction in the use of new components for refurbishing and repairing of malfunctioning equipment by 70% as there was increased use of components retrieved from WEEE.
“Before SWITCH Africa Green came to our aid, we normally dismantled the electronic systems with a hammer and chisel. They taught us how to dismantle everything, not to burn it-and we have not been burning for the last five years,” Issah adds.
The recyclers and refurbishers increased their incomes as a result of the introduction of new products and a reduction in labour cost that originally came from burning. They also got higher prices for unoxidized copper wire. In Koforidua, individual recyclers reported a 400% increase in income. Project beneficiaries also reported that there was a burgeoning demand for components of WEEE.
There was a general improvement in occupational health and safety resulting from the transition, away from burning electronic waste by the refurbishers. A training on the safe handling of e-waste using appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was offered to the beneficiaries.
“We don’t have a problem with the community since we stopped burning, we don’t have any land, water or air pollution, “says Issah triumphantly. “I would advise everybody or every business to go green. It doesn’t affect the community (negatively) and so I would advise everybody to go into green business.”
