E-waste in Ghana - How many children are dying from lead poisoning?

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


News this week about over hundred people including children dying from lead poisoning in Zamfara State in Nigeria raises lots of concern, and must sound the warning alarm for Ghana in the light of the e-waste dumping that goes on in the country.

According to the BBC some 163 people have died from lead poisoning and there are fears that many more are likely to die. The deaths occurred after local people started digging for gold in areas high in concentrations of lead.

Ghana has been identified as a dumping ground for electronics waste or e-waste from the UK, the USA and other European countries. Evidence uncovered by both local and international media including organizations like the Greenpeace shows that the West’s e-waste is being dumped in Ghana.

E-waste is known to contain a cocktail of poisonous chemicals that are released into the atmosphere and underground water and these chemicals contain substances like lead, mercury and arsenic.

Indeed, apart from e-waste that is brought in from outside the country, e-waste is also generated locally. Most Ghanaians have no idea what to do with their obsolete mobile phones, TV sets, sound systems, refrigerators and computers. Some simply dump these at repair shops and others onto waste dumps.

On a trip around some of Accra’s electronics items shops, one sees large numbers of obviously outmoded and unusable electronics items in store.

Lack of a national policy and or national collection points for such items make local generation of e-waste another source of concern. But what should be more worrying is the news from Nigeria that people are dying from lead poisoning.

It is not known yet if a conclusive study has been carried out in Ghana regarding lead poisoning from e-waste. But information available says some samples have been taken from some young people who work at the Agbogbogbloshie dump dismantling old electronics items and burning the cables to extract the copper for testing.

The Greenpeace had done a lab test of the soil and water at Agbogbloshie from where electronics items are dismantled and the cables put on fire to remove the copper wires. The results of the Greenpeace test showed that the soil in the area contained toxic chemicals at levels a hundred times more than allowable limits.

With these evidences, it is clear that Ghanaians are exposed to a great deal of chemical dangers from e-waste, but it appears there are no proactive efforts to stem the tide before the situation gets out of hand.

If Ghanaians are unaware of the dangers posed to human health and life, the news from Nigeria should be enough to wake the country up to the time bomb we are sitting on as unknown numbers of Ghanaians could be dying from chemical poisoning from e-waste.

In a recent email communication with the UK’s Environment Agency (EA), an official told ghanabusinessnews.com that they have concluded investigations into allegations that some recycling companies in the UK contracted to recycle e-waste have been dumping these into Ghana. The EA said they have handed the findings to their lawyers.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

UK concludes investigation of e-waste dumping in Ghana

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


The Environment Agency (EA) of the UK has completed an investigation into the dumping of electronics waste or e-waste into Ghana by some suspected UK recycling companies, ghanabusinessnews.com has learned.

The investigation was initiated in 2008 following media reports that some recycling companies in the UK were collecting obsolete computers meant for recycling in the UK and dumping them into Ghana.

Following email enquiries by ghanabusinessnews.com to the EA, an official, Scarlett Elworthy wrote this response, “Our officers have now completed their investigations and their findings are now with lawyers for consideration.”

But checks with Ghanaian government officials show that Ghanaian environment officials do not know about the investigation.

In a telephone interview with the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms. Sherry Ayitey, she told ghanabusinessnews.com that she is not aware of the investigation.

British media reports which led to public outcry and forced the EA to initiate the investigation discovered discarded computers from the National Health Service (NHS), and some universities which were collected by recycling firms for proper disposal dumped in Ghana, at the Agbogbloshie scrap yard in Accra.

The Independent, a UK publication also published a report based on investigations it conducted which revealed that toxic wastes from the UK continue to be dumped in Ghana and Nigeria.

The report said tonnes of toxic waste collected from British municipal dumps are being sent illegally to Africa in flagrant breach of the country’s obligation to ensure its rapidly growing mountain of defunct televisions, computers and gadgets are disposed of safely.

Hundreds of thousands of discarded items, which under British law must be dismantled or recycled by specialist contractors, are being packaged into cargo containers and shipped to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, where they are stripped of their raw metals by young men and children working on poisoned waste dumps, the report said.

Despite mounting evidence that the UK is a regular source of the e-waste that comes to Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria, the UK government admitted in September 2009 that it is unable to stop the practice “because of the exponential surge in volumes of incorrectly classified waste being exported,” according to the Computer Weekly.

Some of the damaged computers found at the Agbogbloshie dump site in Accra had NHS labels on them. Other PCs were found to have been the property of UK councils and universities, including Kent County Council, Southampton County Council, Salford University and Richmond upon Thames College.

It is known that 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste are generated in the world annually and a great amount of that ends up in developing countries including Ghana and Nigeria.

Britain is responsible for around 15 per cent of the EU’s total e-waste, which is growing three times faster than any other municipal waste stream.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com

Is the UK serious about halting e-waste dumping in Ghana?

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

The British colonized Ghana for many years, and succeeded in building their economy with Ghana’s natural and human resources. But now they have turned Ghana into a dumping ground for their out of use electronics equipment.

It is known that electronics waste or e-waste contains a dangerous cocktail of poisonous chemicals that pose grave dangers to human life and the environment.

It is therefore, hard to understand why citizens of an advanced country, with all the wealth and resources to handle the e-waste that they have generated instead chose a poor and struggling country like Ghana to dump.

There is now overwhelming evidence that the UK has turned Ghana into a dumping ground for its e-waste. Earlier investigations by British journalists found damaged computers at the Agbogbloshie dump site in Accra with labels of the National Health Service (NHS). Some other computers with NHS labels were also found to be on sale at secondhand electronics equipment dealers’ shops in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Some PCs were also found to have come from UK local councils and universities, including Kent County Council, Southampton County Council, Salford University and Richmond upon Thames College (RUTC) and recently, a Ministry of Defence computer has been found.

On February 18, 2009 authorities in the UK arrested a man over the export of e-waste into developing countries. The 46-year-old man was not named but he was identified as from West Sussex. The countries he was exporting the e-waste to were never mentioned, and he was released on bail until May 5, 2009. Nothing is known yet about his prosecution.

The Independent, a UK newspaper did a report based on investigations it has conducted which revealed that despite ongoing investigations in the matter, toxic wastes from the UK continue to be dumped in Ghana and Nigeria.

The report says tonnes of toxic waste collected from British municipal dumps are being sent illegally to Africa in flagrant breach of the country’s obligation to ensure its rapidly growing mountain of defunct televisions, computers and gadgets are disposed of safely.

Hundreds of thousands of discarded items, which under British law must be dismantled or recycled by specialist contractors, are being packaged into cargo containers and shipped to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, where they are stripped of their raw metals by young men and children working on poisoned waste dumps, the report said.

According to The Independent, in a joint investigation it carried out together with Sky News, and Greenpeace, they found that a television set that had been broken beyond repair was tracked to an electronics market in Lagos, Nigeria, after being left at a civic amenity site in Basingstoke run by Hampshire Country Council.

The publication remarked that under environmental protection laws of the UK, the TV set was classified as hazardous waste and should never have left the country.

In the face of these evidences, the UK Environment Agency (EA) initiated investigations into the matter. In personal correspondence I have hard with the EA in October 2008, The Senior Press Officer responsible for environment protection, Scarlett Elworthy admitted to me by email that the EA was investigating the incidents of e-waste dumping into Ghana. She promised, “I will be happy to provide you with an update once the investigation has concluded.”

It appears while the investigation has been ongoing since last year, the dumping continues. While it does, I have made persistent enquiries at the UK Agency, but have received no information as they keep telling me their investigation team is still investigating the matter.

If the UK authorities fail to act to stop their citizens who obviously are doing these together with some Ghanaians, our Ghanaian authorities should act.

The situation of e-waste in Ghana is grave – as human life and the environment are endangered.

E-waste in Ghana – Anti-dumping legislation soon

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi



Ghana’s Communications Minister has given hints of the possibility of government enacting legislation to stop the dumping of e-waste into Ghana, in a telephone interview with ghanabusinessnews.com Tuesday April 14, 2009.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu said, “we have taken a serious view of the situation and we are considering the passing of anti-dumping legislation, particularly of used computers.”

According to the minister, most of the computers that arrive in the country have no use. He however, said he has no idea of the amount of e-waste that comes into the country’s waste stream.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, also told ghanabusinessnews.com that the Communications Ministry is in discussions with the Ministry of Finance “to impose prohibitive tariffs on the importation of used computers into the country.”

The fact that Ghana is a major dumping ground for e-waste from the US, Europe and other countries is undisputed, as evidence at the Agbogbloshie scrap yard and the number of used computer shops around the country have shown. The contents of some containers arriving at the Tema harbour have also revealed increasing amounts of e-waste entering the country, but steps towards stemming the ominous tide are slow.

Since April 2008, when the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the formation of a committee to deal with the situation nothing concrete has happened.

Much of what has happened, have been paper work and tough talk by public officials who appear not to be fully aware of the specific extent of the dumping and its measured effects on the country’s environment and human health.

Indeed, much of what has been done in concrete terms in direct relations to the dumping of e-waste into Ghana, have been done by foreign countries.

The European media also, unlike the Ghanaian media has given the situation serious coverage and broadcast.

For instance, the British government is investigating alleged dumping of e-waste into Ghana following media reports and pressure from international and British NGOs and some of its citizens. In February 2009, a 46-year-old South Sussex man was arrested on suspicion of exporting e-waste, the destination country was however, not mentioned. He is due to appear in court in May 2009.

Following that a container full of broken electronics equipment destined to Ghana was arrested at the port of Amsterdam, and a few days later eight men were arrested in connection with dumping e-waste in Ghana. Five of the men arrested are Ghanaians and the other three are citizens of Turkey - these men are currently due for trial.

Moreover, in Ghana one cannot find specific data on how much of the developed world’s e-waste comes into the country, because records are simply not kept.

But available data shows that as much as 75% of the 8.7 million tons of e-waste generated in the European Union cannot be accounted for, despite stringent regulations for recycling e-waste. In the US the figure is said to be about 80% or more because the amount of e-waste which is reported for recovery includes some of the e-waste exported to developing countries, according to Greenpeace, the international environmental group.

Ghana’s case requires urgent attention, because should the side effects of the cocktail of toxic chemicals in e-waste hit the country, it would be disastrous, considering the fact that the country has no capacity either scientifically or medically to deal with the problem.

Ghana is a signatory to the Basel Convention, the international convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. The EU also has the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulation to which its member countries subscribe. The WEEE directive stipulates that Information Technology (IT) manufacturers are legally responsible for the safe disposal of their products, and are obliged to ensure all products are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner themselves or sign up with a government-approved waste-handling firm to do it on their behalf. And under this regulation, recycling companies receive some public funding to collect and properly dispose of e-waste safely.

But it appears some individuals have found loopholes in the system and are exploiting it by conniving with some organisations to collect broken electronics and electrical items for onward shipment to Ghana and other developing countries under the guise of aid. Some even sell these out as secondhand items. The broken items end up being sold to scrap dealers who dismantle and sell the parts, after burning the cables to extract the copper.

What is e-waste?

E-waste is the generic name for electronics wastes. These are discarded electronics devices or broken electronics or electrical items that come into the waste stream from several sources. They include gadgets like televisions, personal computers (PCs), telephones, air conditioners, cell phones, and electronic toys.

The list can further be widened to include appliances such as lifts, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, kitchen equipment or even air crafts.

Dangerous Chemicals

Electronics equipment is one of the largest known sources of heavy metals, toxic materials and organic pollutants in city waste.

E-waste is known to contain dangerous chemical pollutants that are released into the atmosphere and underground water.

The modes of disposal, which include dumping old gadgets into landfills or burning in smelters, also expose the environment and humans to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poison. These chemicals contain substances like lead, mercury and arsenic.

The cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in most computer monitors and television screens have x-ray shields that contain 4 to 8 pounds of lead, mostly embedded in glass.

Flat screen monitors that are mostly used in laptops do not contain high concentrations of lead, but most are illuminated with fluorescent lights that contain some mercury.

A PC’s central processing unit (CPU), the module containing the chip and the hard disk, typically contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury (in switches), lead (in solder on circuit boards), and cadmium (in batteries).

Plastics used to house computer equipment and cover wire cables to prevent flammability often contain polybrominated flame retardants, a class of dangerous chemicals. Studies have shown that ingesting these substances may increase the risk of cancer, liver damage, and immune system dysfunction.

Lead, mercury, cadmium, and polybrominated flame retardants are all persistent, bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs), that can create environmental and health risks when computers are manufactured, incinerated, landfilled or melted during recycling. PBTs, in particular are a dangerous class of chemicals that linger in the environment and accumulate in living tissues.

And because they increase in concentration as they move up the food chain, PBTs can reach dangerous levels in living organisms, even when released in minute quantities. PBTs are harmful to human health and the environment and have been associated with cancer, nerve damage and reproductive disorders.

Looked at individually, the chemicals contained in e-waste are a cocktail of dangerous pollutants that kill both the environment and humans slowly.

Ground Floor: Who cares about e-waste in Ghana?

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


I am dedicating my column this week to the critical problem of e-waste dumping in Ghana.

There is now no doubt, that Ghana is a choice destination for dumping of e-waste from America and Europe.

Recent developments in Europe, particularly, the UK and Holland paint a very clear picture of the horror the country is confronted with.

Since I first wrote an informative article for the Daily Graphic which the newspaper published in its June 5, 2007 edition, and subsequently wrote an online version of the story drawing attention to the dangers the country could possibly be faced with in the event that we gloss over the increasing presence of health and environment threatening e-waste in Ghana, not much has happened in the country.

I have subsequently written a number of articles on the subject and still do.

Indeed, not even the media in Ghana has seen the issue as a major problem deserving of the kind of attention that it gives to some of the mundane issues we hear in the electronic media and read in the press.

The only time the media in Ghana did any coverage of the issue as it would some of the other issues of importance to it, was when a press conference was held on it or when the international media covered the issue.

Even though, I have worked for some radio stations in this country, my efforts to encourage producers and presenters to give the matter some attention did not receive any appreciable response. In one or two instances, the matter was touched but only after some other media has reported it.

As for government agencies tasked with monitoring and protecting Ghana’s environment and the health of citizens, the least said about them the better.

All the time that I have been contacted on the subject, it has been by foreign individuals, organizations or media. Most of the work and report that has been done on e-waste in Ghana, apart from those I have done and what my good friend Mike Anane has been doing, have been done by foreigners. And this leads me to ask; who cares about e-waste in Ghana?

On August 5, 2008, Greenpeace released a report on Ghana, which detailed the extent of pollution the country is exposed to due to the presence of e-waste in the country. And I found out later that, the international organization, actually followed up on my works to do their investigation.

Following that, one of the biggest publications in Germany Süddeutsche Zeitung sent down one of their editors, Michael Bitala to consult me on the subject in Ghana and he subsequently did a story which has awaken Germans to the magnitude of the problem in Ghana.

After his article, a German TV station, Proseiben flew down a crew to consult with me and did a documentary on the subject.

So far, as a journalist, I feel like a lone crusader on the subject that affects Ghana. I do feel lonely sometimes in this quest. I did not choose to, I got involved in the matter as part of my duty. I wasn’t even paid to write on the subject – I did it all as part of my regular writings on matters of local importance that have global relevance, just as I have written extensively on the global food and energy crisis, financial meltdown and the biofuels debate.

In a telephone conversation I had this morning March 6, 2009, with Dutch journalist, Weert Schenk of Volkskrant newspaper, something hit me so hard. He told me nine Ghanaians have been cited in the deadly trade of exporting e-waste from the Netherlands to Ghana.

Eight people have been arrested in the east of the country.

He told me these people have been involved in the deadly trade since 2003 or even earlier.

The eight who were arrested included three Turkish citizens and five Ghanaians, but in keeping with Dutch laws, police have not released their names to the media.

The British authorities have also arrested a man in Sussex and he has been released on bail awaiting court appearance in May 2009.

The export of e-waste from Europe is illegal and a contravention of the WEEE. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive stipulates that Information Technology (IT) manufacturers are legally responsible for the safe disposal of their products, and are obliged to ensure all products are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner themselves or sign up with a government-approved waste-handling firm to do it on their behalf.

These countries are acting to curtail the export of these deadly toxic chemicals into our country, and we are doing nothing about it as a country.

In an interview I had with a former deputy Minister of Environment and Rural Development, he told me specifically that there is no e-waste dumping in Ghana.

The Ghana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done little so far. The agency is either under-staffed or poorly resourced. The EPA told the media in April 2008 that it was setting up a committee to draft policy for handling and managing e-waste in Ghana, but nothing has happened since the announcement was made.

Each time I have called the EPA for information on the subject, they had asked me to travel to their offices before they could talk to me. This attitude simply makes nonsense of the importance of the telephone and the need to cut down on the cost of doing business.

Meanwhile, CEOs of multi-nationals and other public officials in other parts of the world would speak on the phone and answer questions on their activities.

Some Ghanaian officials would not respond to your requests for an interview even after you have fulfilled their request to send your questionnaire in advance. For months, you would not even get the courtesy of a call or an appointment.

The press office of the UK Environment Agency has been responding to my queries. An official, Scarlett Elworthy has told me the UK government is investigating specifically the dumping of e-waste in Ghana.

Our country and our people are at great risk of the dangers that e-waste poses, but there is official inaction to deal with the problem.

I formed a group on Facebook, Ghanaians Against Dumping of E-waste. Even though membership of the group is growing, most who have signed on are Ghanaians living abroad. Not many Ghanaians living at home have signed on, even though, there are lots of Ghanaians at home on Facebook.

I am doing my part, but I can’t do it all. I would however, continue to do what I have to do.

It is however time for us as a country to take decisive action to deal with this issue once and for all. Because our environment and people are in grave danger of being exposed to the cocktail of toxic chemicals that e-waste emits into the system.

The time to act is now!

UK authorities arrest man over export of e-waste

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


Authorities in the UK have arrested a man over the export of e-waste into developing countries.

The 46-year-old man, who was not named but identified as from West Sussex is the first to be arrested as part of ongoing crackdown on the illegal export of e-waste from Britain to the developing world, the Environment Agency (EA) of the UK has said. He was arrested on February 18, 2009 and released on bail until May 5, 2009.

The EA has also said it was increasing its efforts to intercept e-waste as it leaves Britain and had prevented 33 cargo containers of electrical goods from leaving the UK in the past six months.

Investigations by Greenpeace, an environmental group and some media, including The Independent and Sky News revealed that 23,000 tonnes of computers are being dumped illegally in Africa every year from the UK, in violation of the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE).

On Friday February 27, 2009, ghanabusinessnews.com carried a story about the arrest of a container full of e-waste at the port of Amsterdam, in Holland that was ready to be shipped into Ghana.

Ghana and Nigeria have been identified as a choice destination for e-waste or electronics waste, due to weak laws and in most cases lack of enforcement of existing regulations. Local authorities in these countries are ill-equipped and in some cases ill informed on and about the issue of e-waste.

Meanwhile, the Director of Pollutions at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of environment has told ghanabusinessnews.com that it is time for sub-regional efforts to tackle the problem. He said the country was embarking on a clampdown of importers of unusable electronics items into the country.

E-waste is the generic name for electronic or computer wastes. These are discarded electronics devices that come into the waste stream from several sources. They include gadgets like televisions, personal computers (PCs), telephones, air conditioners, cell phones, and electronic toys.

The list can further be widened to include appliances such as lifts, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, kitchen equipment or even air crafts.

Electronics equipment is one of the largest known sources of heavy metals, toxic materials and organic pollutants in city waste.
E-waste is known to contain dangerous chemical pollutants that are released into the atmosphere and underground water.

The modes of disposal, which include dumping old gadgets into landfills or burning in smelters, also expose the environment and humans to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poison. These chemicals contain substances like lead, mercury and arsenic.

The cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in most computer monitors and television screens have x-ray shields that contain 4 to 8 pounds of lead, mostly embedded in glass.

Flat screen monitors that are mostly used in laptops do not contain high concentrations of lead, but most are illuminated with fluorescent lights that contain some mercury.

A PC’s central processing unit (CPU), the module containing the chip and the hard disk, typically contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury (in switches), lead (in solder on circuit boards), and cadmium (in batteries).

Plastics used to house computer equipment and cover wire cables to prevent flammability often contain polybrominated flame retardants, a class of dangerous chemicals. Studies have shown that ingesting these substances may increase the risk of cancer, liver damage, and immune system dysfunction.

Lead, mercury, cadmium, and polybrominated flame retardants are all persistent, bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs), that can create environmental and health risks when computers are manufactured, incinerated, landfilled or melted during recycling. PBTs, in particular are a dangerous class of chemicals that linger in the environment and accumulate in living tissues.

And because they increase in concentration as they move up the food chain, PBTs can reach dangerous levels in living organisms, even when released in minute quantities. PBTs are harmful to human health and the environment and have been associated with cancer, nerve damage and reproductive disorders.

Looked at individually, the chemicals contained in e-waste are a cocktail of dangerous pollutants that kill both the environment and humans slowly.

Lead, which negative effects were recognized and therefore banned from gasoline in the 1970s causes damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, blood systems, kidney and the reproductive system in humans.

Effects of lead on the endocrine system have been observed, including the serious negative effects it has on children’s brain development. When it accumulates in the environment, it has high acute and chronic effects on plants, animals and micro-organisms.

Cadmium compounds are also toxic with a possible risk of irreversible effects on human health and accumulate in the human body, particularly the kidneys. Cadmium occurs in certain components such as SMD chip resistors, infra-red detectors, and semi-conductor chips.

Mercury on the other hand, can cause damage to various organs including the brain and kidneys as well as the fetus. More especially, the developing fetus is highly susceptible through maternal exposure to mercury.

These are only few of the chemicals used in the manufacture of electronics equipment. Other chemicals are Hexavalent Chromium which is used as a corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel plates and as a decorative or hardener for steel housings. Plastics including, PVC are also used. Plastics constitute about 13.8 pounds of an average computer.

The largest volume of plastics, 26% used in electronics is PVC. When PVC is burned, dioxin can be formed because it contains chlorine compounds. Barium, is a soft silvery-white metal that is used in computers in the front panel of a CRT, to protect users from radiation.

Studies have shown that short-term exposure to barium has caused brain swelling, muscle weakness, damage to the liver, heart and spleen.

Considering the health hazards of e-waste, another ubiquitous computer peripheral scrap worth mentioning is toners. The main ingredient of the black toner is a pigment commonly called, carbon black – the general term used to describe the commercial powder form of carbon.

Inhalation is the primary means of exposure, and acute exposure may lead to respiratory tract irritation.

The UK government’s action, looked at in context, should be a good sign that something practical is being done to address the issue of e-waste from the UK being dumped into developing countries.

E-waste destined to Ghana caught in Amsterdam port

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


A container full of e-waste destined to Ghana has been arrested at the port of Amsterdam in Holland, according to a Radio Netherlands report Friday February 27, 2009.

The report said inspectors from the country’s environment ministry intercepted the container filled with broken electronics equipment from a major Dutch store chain, but ministry officials declined to name the store.

According to the officials, the container was filled with broken deep-frying pans, water cookers and other electronic waste in the port of Amsterdam ready to be shipped to Ghana.

According to the report, a Ghanaian exporter has bought the items without proper documentation from a trader who had bought the items from the store. The names of the Ghanaian exporter and the Dutch trader were also not given.

The report also indicated that charges would be brought against the store, trader and Ghanaian exporter.

The inspectorate reportedly has announced a crackdown on recycling companies, recycled goods shops and collectors of electronics waste which violate environmental laws.

Ghanabusinessnews.com has contacted sources in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam and will keep readers updated on developments.

Ghana and other African countries, notably Nigeria have become the dumping grounds for e-waste from developing countries, especially Europe and America.

European countries have passed the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) to control the handling and disposal of e-waste of electronics waste. But it appears poor supervision is encouraging unscrupulous organizations and individuals to export the cocktail of poisonous chemicals into Ghana and other developing industries.

The US is one of three signatories to the Basel Convention, including Afghanistan and Haiti which have not deposed instruments of ratifications.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the most comprehensive global environmental treaty on hazardous and other wastes.

It has 170 member countries (Parties) and aims to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation, management, transboundary movements and disposal of hazardous and other wastes.

E-waste in Ghana – Authorities deny dumping

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

E-waste dumping is a major problem in Ghana, but Ghanaian authorities deny there is any amount of dumping going on in the country.

Ghana’s Environment Ministry and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) all insist what is going on in Ghana is not dumping.

Meanwhile, large numbers of obsolete computers enter the country through Ghana’s ports on a daily basis.

Investigations at the Tema Port show that even Pentium Two computers are being imported into the country. But IT experts say Pentium Two computers can not be of much use to any economy that intends to use ICT to facilitate growth.

They argue that apart from the fact that most of the software that are being written these days can not run on these versions of computers, they do not have the capacity for high volume industries. These computers are likely to end up in the waste stream sooner than later.

Mr. Kofi Dadzie, of Rancard Solutions, an ICT company says these types of computers are obsolete and would not help the country in its quest for development.

He said, “applications these days are built to meet computing power, and why should we go for low computing power to compete?”

Mr. Dadzie said importing low power 400 MHz and 500 MHz computers into the country is not advisable for productivity. He added that it is possible that people who are looking for opportunities to dump old computers might be responsible for exporting such computers into Ghana.

The Agbogbloshie scrap yard and dump site in Accra are equally important evidences of dumping.

The e-waste problem in Ghana appears to have caught some attention following an article I wrote in June 2007 to inform the world about the possible dangers that Ghanaians and the country’s environment could be exposed to if the problem is not properly handled.

But Ghanaian authorities do not appear to see the problem as a serious one that requires urgent attention. While the Environment Agency (EA) of the UK is investigating some recycling companies in the UK on suspicion of dumping e-waste into Ghana, Ghanaian authorities are unaware of the on-going investigation.

Speaking to me in a telephone conversation, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Local Government, Science and Environment, Maxwell Kofi Jummah, says there is no dumping of e-waste in Ghana. He said “there is no dumping of e-waste in Ghana.” And when I asked if he was aware of the Agbogbloshie dump site, he insisted, “they don’t throw computers there, if you go to Agbogbloshie you will not find even 10 computers there.”

He also told me he is not aware of the UK government’s investigation of the matter.

Mr. Jummah also said a law will come into effect in two years that says all used electronics equipment such as fridges, TVs and Air Conditioners that are imported into Ghana must have energy efficiency labels on them. He said people would also be given coupons to trade their obsolete gadgets with energy-efficient ones.

Asked if the law covers used computers, he said, “I am not sure if used computers are covered by the law.”

Meanwhile, Computer Aid International, a UK based Charity which distributes refurbished computers to developing countries, say they are hopeful that the EA would contact the Ghanaian authorities as part of their investigations.

Speaking to me on the phone, Louise Richard, the CEO of Computer Aid International, which also put pressure on the UK government to investigate the dumping of e-waste in Ghana following a Green Peace International report on the problem which was published on August 5, 2008, said there is evidence of e-waste dumping in Ghana.

Ms. Richard said the evidence of e-waste dumping in Ghana is contained in the very detailed reports which the Green Peace International and Consumers International have produced.

Both the Green Peace and Consumers International reports have documented videos, photographs and lab reports to show the gravity of the problem in Ghana.

Depending on who is speaking on the issue, it appears there is no concerted government approach to resolving the issue.

Speaking at a Climate Change meeting in Accra, August 21, 2008, Ghana’s environment Minister, Kwadwo Adjei Darko made an appeal to developed countries to stop dumping e-waste in Ghana.

He said old computers are being imported into Ghana and these importations have resulted in hazardous e-waste in the country.
He appealed to exporting countries to stop using Africa as a dumping ground.

Indeed, even though the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the EPA, William Abaidoo announced the formation of a committee to draft policy to deal with the problem not much has happened since the announcement was made.

In an interview he granted Ghana’s leading daily newspaper Daily Graphic, he said the EPA was developing guidelines to regulate the importation of used electronic gadgets into the country.

The interview published in the April 25, 2008, issue of the newspaper quoted him as saying that the guidelines would serve as a standard for what "we want to have and receive as a country in terms of electronic wastes."

But when I called him to find out if the committee has been formed he instead referred me to another officer.

And he was also unaware of the UK government’s investigation of the issue in Ghana.
He also asked me to show him any evidence of e-waste dumping in Ghana. “If you know anywhere e-waste is being dumped in Ghana, show that to me and the EPA will act.”

Clearly this remark shows a denial of the incidents of e-waste dumping in Ghana.

While the debate goes on, the eight-year olds, teenagers and adults who work to survive by dismantling obsolete computers without any protective gear and burn the cables in open fires to extract the copper, would continue to be at risk in as much as they expose Ghana’s environment to risk of contamination from lead, cadmium, polybrominated flame retardants and other hazardous chemicals.