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
4.2.7 Interim conclusion <strong>and</strong> possible business models
The comparison of the presently applied recycling technologies with the best applicable
technologies reveals that there are considerable environmental improvement potentials,
especially in terms of managing the hazardous fractions like CRT-glass, the internal phosphorous
coating <strong>and</strong> plastics. Nevertheless, the environmentally sound management of
these fractions is costly <strong>and</strong> will at least partly compensate the revenues from the net
material value of CRT-devices. Compared to the presently applied CRT-recycling, the
environmentally sound treatment path would yield clearly less revenues. Therefore, it cannot
be expected that profit-orientated enterprises will engage in environmentally sound CRTrecycling
without additional financing systems or other safeguard mechanisms that ensure a
proper h<strong>and</strong>ling of all fractions of CRT-products. In the current situation, it is much more
profitable for both, formal <strong>and</strong> informal businesses to conduct ‘cherry picking’ by focusing on
the valuable fractions only <strong>and</strong> discarding the rest.
Therefore, any business models to implement environmentally sound CRT-recycling can only
compete against such cherry-picking recyclers, if laws <strong>and</strong> regulations clearly outline the
recyclers’ full responsibility for all waste fractions. Additionally, finance mechanisms should
be installed that compensate for the management of these deficit fractions. One possibility
could be to apply extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Ghana by charging a fee for any
electric or electronic device imported to Ghana. This fee could then be used to finance
environmentally sound end-of-life management of critical e-waste fractions.
Additionally, sound CRT-recycling could be supported by identifying suitable management
options for critical fractions. This could include:
� the identification <strong>and</strong> development of disposal sites for hazardous wastes;
� minimum quotas for co-incineration of hazardous wastes in cement kilns;
� further exploring the <strong>feasibility</strong> of using CRT-glass in the construction sector.
4.3 Recycling of refrigerators <strong>and</strong> freezers
4.3.1 Relevance for Ghana
Refrigerators are commonly used in W-African countries, both, in private households <strong>and</strong> in
shops <strong>and</strong> bars.
The end-of-life management of refrigerators <strong>and</strong> freezers is of considerable environmental
importance as most devices manufactured before 1993 contain refrigerants <strong>and</strong> foam
blowing agents with a high ozone depleting <strong>and</strong> greenhouse gas potential. Although the
refrigerants <strong>and</strong> foaming agents are not directly hazardous to human health, the potential
greenhouse gas emissions from crude recycling or untreated disposal are very high (see
Table 10). As the average life-span of cooling <strong>and</strong> freezing appliances is between 14 <strong>and</strong> 17
years in Europe (Rüdenauer & Gensch 2007), the majority of devices reaching end-of-life in
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