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

12
August 2010
<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
Table 1 Quantity of E-Waste generated in metric tons/year (Source: Schluep et al. 2009)
Country
Quantity of e-waste generated 3
(metric tons/year)
Senegal 3,730 2007
Ug<strong>and</strong>a 4,390 2007
Kenya 7,350 2007
Peru 24,420 2006
Colombia 36,100 2006
Morocco 38,200 2007
South Africa 59,650 2007
Mexico 269,300 2006
Brazil 368,300 2005
India 439,000 2007
China 2,212,000 2007
Assessment date
Although end-of-life treatment operations of e-waste give rise to further employment <strong>and</strong>
income opportunities for a large group of people, they are also associated with severe
environmental <strong>and</strong> health hazards, hence diluting the overall potentials <strong>and</strong> benefits to a
large extent. Thus, the e-waste problem in emerging economies <strong>and</strong> developing countries
needs a twofold approach:
� improvement of the local e-waste management capacities;
� better regulation of transboundary movements of used <strong>and</strong> obsolete EEE.
This project <strong>study</strong> addresses the first dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> aims to elaborate improvement potentials
through better recycling technologies 4 . Thereby, the analysis is not restricted to reducing
environmental impacts, but it also focuses on multiple socio-<strong>economic</strong> aspects <strong>and</strong> looks into
feasible ways to integrate the informal e-waste recycling sector into possible business
models in order to identify new market niches <strong>and</strong> generate significant employment <strong>and</strong>
income opportunities for the urban poor.
In order to meet these aims, the project encompasses an in-depth socio-<strong>economic</strong> <strong>study</strong> on
the functioning <strong>and</strong> the sustainability impacts of the refurbishing <strong>and</strong> e-waste recycling sector
in Ghana (chapter 3). In the second part of the <strong>study</strong>, the currently practiced recycling
3 The figures do not correspond to the total e-waste generation, but only to a set of e-waste categories (tracer
products), for which reliable data was available. The e-waste categories considered include: ICT (PCs,
printers <strong>and</strong> mobile phones), TVs <strong>and</strong> refrigerators.
4 In line with the analysis of the term „technology“ performed in Schluep et al. 2009, the term „technology“ in this
report refers not only to „technical installations, but also to skills, processes <strong>and</strong> combinations thereof. In this
respect, a systematic manual dismantling of an electronic device or a well elaborated chain of different processes
is regarded as technology“. (Schluep et al. 2009)