Socio-economic assessment and feasibility study on - Öko-Institut eV

<strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>economic</strong> <strong>assessment</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>feasibility</strong> <strong>study</strong>
on sustainable e-waste management in Ghana
August 2010
of ICTs gain enormous importance. For instance, in line with the objective to promote an
improved educational system where ICTs are widely deployed to facilitate the delivery of
educational services at all levels, the government of Ghana has initiated the One Laptop per
Child (OLPC) programme in primary schools. The first consignment of 1,000 computers was
delivered for distribution to schools (Daily Graphic, June 2, 2009). In addition, another
initiative, Laptop for Household Project aimed at providing 150,000 affordable laptop
computers <strong>and</strong> accessories to individual households, was launched (Ghanaian Times (page
19), August 3, 2009). A basic second h<strong>and</strong> desktop PC in Ghana costs between US$ 60 to
100, while a second h<strong>and</strong> notebook between US$ 200 to 300. Compared to the costs of new
electrical <strong>and</strong> electronic equipments (EEE), the prices of second h<strong>and</strong> & used EEE indicate
that they are available at affordable prices for the lower <strong>and</strong> medium income groups of
Ghana. Apart from benefits to the end consumers, employment opportunities are generated
for the refurbishing & repair sector (Chapter 3.4.2).
With the increasing utilisation of ICTs, consumer electronics <strong>and</strong> household equipments in all
world regions, e-waste volumes are rapidly growing in virtually every country. Generally, ewaste
is passed by the end-consumers <strong>and</strong> refurbishing/ repair businesses via formal or
informal collection agents to formal or informal material recovery & end-disposal operations.
Estimates based on the socio-<strong>economic</strong> data collected in Accra reveal that in Ghana about
10,000 to 13,000 metric tons of e-waste is treated annually. 2 Compared to other countries in
Africa (see table 1 below), this quantity is larger than in Kenya, Senegal <strong>and</strong> Ug<strong>and</strong>a, <strong>and</strong>
much smaller than in South Africa:
2 The socio-<strong>economic</strong> data collected at the Agbogbloshie metal scrap yard in Accra indicated that each recycler
at the metal scrap yard processes about 5.2 metric tons of e-waste per year in order to recover materials.
Considering that about 1,500 out of total 3,000 members of the Agbogbloshie Scrap Dealer Association focus
primarily on e-waste, <strong>and</strong> relying on the expert judgment that Agbogbloshie contributes about 40% to 60% to
the total e-waste processing in Ghana, it was estimated that about 10,000 to 13,000 metric tons of e-waste are
treated in Ghana annually. The average weight of various devices, such as PCs, refrigerators etc., were taken
from Schluep et al. 2009.
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