Ghana to build USD 30 million e-waste recycling facility

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation has announced that construction of the state-of-the-art e-waste recycling facility at Agbogbloshie in the Greater Accra Region will be completed by June 2017. The facility is being constructed in partnership with the country’s Environmental Protection Agency. The first phase of the project is estimated to cost around USD 30 million.

According to press release issued by the Ministry, the construction of the e-waste recycling facility is being funded by French SGS Limited. The plant will be managed by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed plant will put an end to unethical recycling practices followed in the region, by recycling all electronic waste into useful final products in the most environmentally sound manner. The primitive e-waste dismantling techniques currently used in the region is said to generate huge volumes of toxic pollutants.

Upon achieving full capacity, the plant is expected to generate more than 400,000 jobs in the region. According to EPA officials, the people who already are engaged in scrap business will be absorbed after providing training to work with standard certified procedures to deal with e-waste. The plant is expected to provide job opportunities directly for those engaged in the collection or recycling facilities and indirectly to those who are engaged in buy-sell trade of recovered materials such as metals, plastics and other recyclable materials. The plant is expected to contribute significantly to the economic growth of the region. Further, it will relieve Agbogbloshie and its surrounding regions from harmful chemicals and pollutants including heavy metals such as mercury and lead. According to Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Minister of Youth and Sports, plans are underway to develop the Agbogbloshie dump site into a first-class sporting facility.

Francis Bullen Gavor, Project Consultant noted that the construction of the facility assumes great significance, mainly due to the fact that Agbogbloshie has been projected as one among the ten most polluted sites in the world. Much of the e-waste dumped by developed countries are handled in primitive and unethical ways, thereby leading to emission of harmful chemicals and metals into surrounding environment.

Incidentally, legislation is underway in Ghana to address the control, management and disposal of hazardous and electronic waste. The Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management Bill, 2016 aims to provide funds to support safe management of e-waste. The bill also proposes establishment of electrical and electronic waste recycling plant in the country, which will save the country from the hazardous health risks caused by improper disposal of e-waste.

UNEP study had recently noted that nearly 42 million tons of electronic waste was generated across the world in 2014. It also notes that much of the waste generated in developed countries end up in African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana. Further, the report forecasts the global electronic waste volumes to touch 50 million tons by 2017.