Time to decisively deal with e-waste menace

The boom in the patronage of electronic products has come with the challenge of how to effectively deal with and manage the end use of those products, commonly referred to as e-waste.

According to UN estimates, between 20 and 50 million tonnes of e-waste is generated worldwide annually.

Ghana, like many other countries, has opened up and embraced electronic technology, but effectively dealing with e-waste has become a serious challenge. Although some efforts are being made to manage the menace and keep it under control, there seems to be so much more to do.

In 2008, the Daily Graphic brought to the fore the health implications of a poorly managed end-of-use products, or e-waste.

Last Friday, we carried a front page picture story captioned: “Avert this environmental time bomb.”

Particularly within Agbogbloshie and the Odaw River on the Graphic Road in the Accra metropolis, the problem associated with e-waste has not only become a menace but also a serious health hazard for those people who are directly involved in the e-waste scrap business, as well as those who live within the area of operation of the scrap dealers.

When this paper tried to draw the attention of duty bearers when the challenge with e-waste began in 2008, not much attention was paid to it, with an official of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) then reacting to the publication during discussions on a local radio that “there is no need for people to be concerned; … the situation is not as scary as the media are making it look like”.

Twelve years on, the menace has become enormous and the nation awaits the laws to specifically deal with e-waste.

Although there has been an effort to get a policy document and a strategy formulated for e-waste cycling, it is obvious that the policy is either yet to be implemented or, like most laws, it exists only on paper and has not been enforced.

While the work they do may provide some income for those who daily show up on dumpsites to scan through the e-waste for the fraction of iron, copper, aluminium, gold and other metals in e-waste that they could sell, most of them are not aware of the health hazard their actions pose to themselves, the environment and, by extension, almost everyone within the community.

Respiratory problems, chronic nausea and debilitating headache are some of the sicknesses that commonly afflict people living in these communities, as well as those who deal in the scrap, due to the impact the burning of e-waste has on the environment through air pollution.

The activity has moved from Agbogbloshie to the Graphic Road, and God knows what is happening elsewhere around the country.

The Daily Graphic would want to once again draw the attention of the EPA to consider this steadily growing menace and give it the needed attention to ensure that the boom in the consumption of electronic products does not come with a heavy health price to be paid.

That is why we expect our duty bearers to be up and doing and not allow the issue to get out of hand, irrespective of whether it is happening in the hub of the capital, as it is seen at Agbogbloshie or on the Graphic Road, or anywhere around the country.

The volumes of e-waste being generated and the toxic content are so alarming that the situation cannot be allowed to continue.