An E-waste collection centre has begun operations in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, to enable scrap dealers and other players to send in their e-waste for sale to protect the environment from degradation.
This follows a successful pilot of the initiative in Koforidua in the Eastern Region and Accra in the Greater Accra Region.
The centre, which is located within the Suame Magazine enclave, is an incentive-based collection centre aimed at financially rewarding scrap dealers and others in the private sector.
The initiative is being championed by the E-waste Fund under the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), as part of the E-waste Fund's mandate to pay incentives to the collection centre as spelt out in Act 917.
Stakeholders meeting
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the E-waste Fund, Amos Blessing Amorse, disclosed this during a two-day stakeholders’ engagement on the E-waste Fund pilot incentive collection scheme in Kumasi last Friday.
It brought together members of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO), including various scrap dealers’ associations, the E-waste and scraps association, as well as members of the Ghana Electronics Servicing Technicians Association (GESTA), among other stakeholders.
The stakeholders' engagement
The sessions provided the officials the opportunity to present an overview of the pilot scheme, outline proposed incentive models, and facilitate open dialogue on implementation strategies, roles and expected outcomes.
Nationwide rollout
Mr Amorse said having successfully piloted the scheme in Accra and Koforidua, the fund saw it fit to be rolled out across the country in a bid to build an environmentally friendly society.
He said Kumasi, which is one of the growing cities, was benefiting from the scheme to improve the environment, adding: “We are here to engage the principal actors towards its smooth implementation.
“As a country, we have come of age and have gone beyond the stage where we collect e-waste and burn it in the open, leading to environmental pollution.”
Mr Amorse encouraged players in the sector to embrace and provide the needed support by sending their e-waste to the established collection centre within the metropolis, instead of burning it, with its attendant consequences.
Holding centre
The Head, Monitoring and Evaluation, E-waste Fund, Gerald Adu-Gyamfi, said the government was working closely with investors towards the establishment of the collection centre, and that “the government, also on its part, will put up two additional holding centres aside from that of Accra.”
“We are looking at constructing one in the southern belt and the other in the northern belt,” he stated, and invited the public to come on board to help in the setting up of the collection centres.
The Chairman of the Akwatia Line Scrap Dealers Association, Alhassan Abdulai Dagara, who welcomed the extension of the pilot scheme to Kumasi, pledged the association’s full support towards its implementation.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman, GESTA, John Boakye, admitted that the improper disposal of e-waste continued to destroy the environment and put the lives of the people at risk and, therefore, commended the government for the intervention, saying it would inure to everyone’s benefit.
Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh
