E-waste campaign gradually getting some attention in Ghana

The campaign to get government agencies to act to deal with the e-waste menace confronting Ghana appears to be getting some attention.

This campaign has been driven by e-waste and environmental campaigners both local and international and some journalists. The issue has also been brought to the fore by the recently published Greenpeace report on e-waste dumping in Ghana.

The latest to comment on the issue is the Accra Metropolitan Health Directorate (AMHD). The AMHD is reported to be calling for expert advice to deal with the disposal of electronics waste (e-waste) and similar waste because of the health and environmental implications these kinds of waste have.

In a Daily Graphic newspaper report of Monday August 18, 2008, the AMHD was reported to indicate that it was waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formulate a policy to determine how to deal with the problem before the AMHD which is an implementation agency could take any action in the long term to halt the disposal of e-waste in Ghana.

The Daily Graphic quoted the Chief Environmental Health Officer of the AMHD, Mr. James Aryeetey as saying that even though the threatening issue of e-waste has to be dealt with, it is the duty of the EPA - which is a policy making organ which also has the expertise to deal with e-waste.

He told the Daily Graphic that "All those things contain mercury and lead and they are dangerous to the environment. Burnt waste of that kind contaminates the air, while those that are crushed affect the soil and eventually water. Unfortunately, those who operate may not even be aware of the dangers their actions pose to themselves and the environment."

Mr. Aryeetey said, "Young unemployed people have been going out collecting these broken-down or unserviceable computers and all sorts of scrap and have turned the place (Agbogbloshie) into their workplace. It started with aluminium and other metals. It has moved from one item to the other and now e-waste is being added. At Agbogbloshie, all sorts of waste, refrigerators, television sets, batteries, can be found. It is about time we dealt with the issue."

The report published by the Greenpeace showed that the soil and water at the Agbogbloshie dump site contained very high levels of toxic chemicals, more than 100 times of world allowable standards.

According to the study, the first to investigate workplace contamination in areas in Ghana where e-waste recycling and disposal is carried out, focused on the main centre for this type of work, at the Agbogbloshie scrap market in Ghana's capital, Accra. One of the numerous similar, though far smaller, operations that take place throughout Ghana was also investigated, at the location of a scrap dealer in Korforidua, a smaller city to the north of Accra. At these workshops, e-waste is recycled in a crude way, primarily involving manual disassembly and open burning to isolate copper from plastics. Much of the work is carried out by children, commonly using only rudimentary tools and with no protective equipment.

The report said severe chemical contamination was found in ash contaminated soil samples from open burning sites at both Agbogbloshie and Koforidua, as well as in sediment from a shallow lagoon at the Agbogbloshie site. Most samples contained numerous toxic and persistent organic chemical pollutants, as well as very high levels of many toxic metals, the majority of which are either known to be used in electronic devices, or are likely to be formed during the openburning of materials used in such devices. The nature and extent of chemical contamination found at these sites in Ghana were similar to those previously reported for e-waste open burning sites in China, India and Russia.

At the open burning sites, some metals were present at concentrations over one hundred times typical background levels for soils, including lead, a highly toxic metal. High levels of other toxic metals, including cadmium and antimony, were also present, the report said.

The report revealed that numerous classes of organic chemicals were also present in one or more of the samples, including many halogenated (chlorinated or brominated) chemicals. Many of the compounds identified are intentionally used in electronic devices. These included phthalates, widely used as plasticisers in flexible plastics such as PVC, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and triphenyl phosphate (TPP) both used as flame retardants, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) , long banned from manufacture and use but a persistent legacy in some older electrical goods. Others compounds found are known to be formed when hazardous materials in e-waste, such as PVC, are burned. Overall, a wide range of the chemical contaminants present in the samples are toxic, persistent in the environment and, in some cases, able to bioaccumulate (build up in the body).

The study said two samples were also analysed for polychlorinated dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), a class of chemical that can be formed during the combustion of materials present in e-waste. Soil from an open burning site was moderately contaminated, while sediment from the Agbogbloshie lagoon contained a very high level of these highly toxic, highly persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals, at a level just below the threshold defined as being indicative of serious contamination for sediments in the Netherlands.

While the report did not attempt to quantify damage caused to the environment or human health, the results do indicate that the exposure of workers and bystanders to hazardous chemicals may be substantial. In areas in other countries where e-waste recycling takes place, increased exposure to toxic chemicals has been reported for workers and/or local residents, including for chlorinated dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), certain PBDEs, and the toxic metal lead.

This study demonstrates the urgent need for action to address the problems posed by the crude recycling and disposal of hazardous e-waste in Ghana, as well as in other places in which similar activities take place. In part, this requires tighter controls on the transboundary movement of e-waste, including where obsolete equipment is shipped under the guise of ‘used goods', and also more effective controls on the manner in which they are recycled.

In a reaction in the Daily Graphic report, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the EPA, Mr. William Abaidoo admitted that there is the need for people to be concerned , but insisted the situation was not as scary as the media was making it look like.

He said no research or data has been conducted or collected to conclude that the issue is as scary as the media is making it look like.

According to him, "It is worrying, but not as scary."

Mr. Abaidoo was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the EPA is collaborating to deal with the issue and said it was important to immediately stop the people who are working at the Agbogbloshie site otherwise the situation could get out of hand.

He however told the Daily Graphic that there were more friendly ways of extracting the valuable metals from the e-waste without necessarily burning or crushing them.

He promised that the EPA will step up the educational campaign on the issue.

He also said open burning of any sort was illegal according to bye-laws of the EPA and the AMA, and he called on the AMA to act.

Mr.Abaidoo was quoted as saying that a first visit to that place indicated that it had just become a ‘working site' for the operators and not a dumping site by the computer dealers who wanted to dispose of their unserviceable wares.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Email: edogbevi@hotmail.com