Eastern Region E-waste collection centre opens October 15 - Scrap dealers will be financially rewarded for sending waste

The E-waste Fund Administrator, Nana Afua Ababio, has announced the establishment of an E-waste collection centre  in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, to make it possible and easier for scrap dealers and others from the private sector to bring their E-waste for sale and to protect the environment from pollution. 

The centre, which is to open on October 15, is an incentive-based collection centre to financially reward scrap dealers and others in the private sector.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the E-waste Fund, in collaboration with Eco-Partners as part of the E-waste Fund's mandate to pay incentives to the collection centre as spelt out in Act 917.

Nana Ababio, who made this known at a two-day stakeholder workshop which ended last Friday, said the workshop therefore served as a platform to align the collective efforts and foster meaningful collaboration among stakeholders towards establishing an efficient E-waste collection centre in the region.

She said the workshop was also held to formally introduce the scrap dealers and others in the private sector to the need for the setting up of a collection centre.

The event was organised by the E-waste Fund in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with support from GIZ of Germany.

It brought together members of the Eastern Region Scrap Dealers Association, a Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Dr Freda Prempeh, officials from the EPA, the E-waste Fund and other stakeholders.

Best practices

She indicated that it was in that direction that scrap dealers in the region and others in the private sector had been assembled to be trained to enable them to better understand the best practices of E-waste.

"When they take out the positive fractions that they can recycle and sell, they leave the other things in landfills and dump others in water bodies, which is very dangerous to human health,” she said.

The E-waste Fund Administrator said the other reason for the programme was to introduce to the scrap dealers the E-waste Fund so that they would be provided incentives to encourage them to bring E-waste products to the centre for sale.

Health hazards

A Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Dr Freda Prempeh, said it was good for the scrap dealers to come together to understand exactly the health hazards associated with improper E-waste management.

Touching on the job creation aspects of the national E-waste programme, Dr Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North, said the proper management of E-waste could create employment for many Ghanaians, especially the unemployed youth.

The Deputy Director of EPA in charge of the E-waste Programme, Larry Kotoe, explained that given the hazardous nature of E-waste management, a law was passed in 2016 to deal with the issue of environmental pollution in Ghana.

He said the negative practices of scrap dealers such as the burning of cables and other electronic equipment also released toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and, therefore, led to the contamination of water and soil surfaces with heavy metals.

Mr Kotoe, therefore, advised scrap dealers to desist from burning cables, since such practices could potentially affect human health due to the smoke emanating from the burned cables.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Scrap Dealers Association, Alhaji Baba Dawuni said the workshop had exposed them to the proper management of E-waste.

He expressed appreciation to the organisers and gave an assurance that the association's members would adhere to what had been taught.

Context

The setting up of the centre is in line with the fund's mandate as specified in the Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management Act, 2016 (Act 917), which marks the beginning of disbursement to the private sector.

The programme aims to promote sustainable management of E-waste in the region and to officially kick-start operations of the E-waste Fund.

It also focused on identifying the types of E-waste for collection, pricing, management of E-waste fractions and the registration of scrap dealers with the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly to be provided with ID cards.

That will make it possible for the scrap dealers and others in the private sector to derive the full benefits of aligning themselves with the national E-waste programme to get rid of all sorts of E-waste from the environment.