Forum

Risk based analysis of environmental impacts of informal e-waste recycling in Ghana.

By: Kwarteng Kwame Ibrahim

University of Ghana

Introduction

Ghana has a highly informalised e-waste management system. The informal sector players contribute to about 80% collection and recycling of WEEE. The possibility to recover metals, such as aluminium, copper and iron / steel using simple tools, such as hammers, chisels, stones etc serve as the economic motivation behind e-waste recycling in Ghana. The plastic coated wires and cables are normally burned to enable the separation of metals from plastic materials. Materials of no commercial value are disposed off in open waste dumps or municipal landfill sites (Brigden et al., 2010). The prospects of instant cash resulting from the sale of recovered metals, trade of precious metal containing components and low-level of skills required to carry out material recovery operations, have made e-waste recycling an attractive economic activity for those involved in the business. Agbogbloshie a suburb of Accra the capital of Ghana has become a central location of e-waste recycling activities. It has to be noted that the Agbogbloshie metal scrap yard is also a hub for scrap metals from various other sources than e-waste including waste automobile and waste lead-acid batteries. It is also the hub of a network of e-waste and scrap metal collectors searching the city Accra for metal containing wastes. A large number of refurbishing and repair operations for electric and electronic products are scattered all around the city of Accra. A large section of the refurbishing operations can be found near the port of Tema as many refurbishing units have close business linkages with importers and retailers of second hand electrical and electronic goods (Prakash et al., 2010).

From the foregoing current study is aimed at

• Determining the concentration of elements and (polychlorinated biphenyls) PCBs from soil of selected e-waste disposal and recycling centres in Ghana. To be used for;

-geospatial analysis to map out the distribution of the pollutants and identify the hot spots within the vicinity;

-evaluating the human health risks associated with the informal activities to be taken into consideration when making clean-up decisions in future.

• Assessing e-waste management systems employed by selected bulk users of EEE.

The proposed study is aimed at;

• Understanding the E-Waste Situation in India
• Reviewing Governance Legislation for E-Waste Management in India
• Reviewing the  Environmental Impacts associated with E-Waste Management in India
• Understanding the informal Sector Participation in E-Waste management as well as the downstream marketing  activities in India
• Understanding the management strategy being put in place to mitigated to environmental impacts