The local contours of scavenging for e-waste and higher-valued constituent parts in Accra, Ghana

Toward a More Sustainable Trajectory for E-Waste Policy: A Review of a Decade of E-Waste Research in Accra, Ghana

“…This approach could modernize outdated perceptions about employment roles within the waste economy, thereby bringing e-waste into the mainstream and promoting a greener future. This shift could be rapid if government recognized and embraced the informal economy’s potential in e-waste reform legislation [ 5 ].…”

“…Ghana’s e-waste activities generate US$105–268 million annually and sustain the livelihoods of at least 200,000 people nationwide [5]. The Agbogbloshie site alone provides livelihood opportunities of various sorts to approximately 4500–6000 workers and perhaps another 1500 indirectly [6].…”

“…The municipal authority, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), is acutely aware of elevated environmental health risks and hazards in this site but they have been reluctant to tackle the problem. Ghana’s e-waste activities generate US$105–268 million annually and sustain the livelihoods of at least 200,000 people nationwide [ 5 ]. The Agbogbloshie site alone provides livelihood opportunities of various sorts to approximately 4500–6000 workers and perhaps another 1500 indirectly [ 6 ].…”

Sustainable African Urban Futures

“…At e-waste destinations in Africa, backyard informal recyclers, who manually disassemble equipment and use primitive processing techniques to recover minerals, dominate e-waste treatment (Lepawsky & Mather, 2011). Oteng-Ababio et al (2014) point to the possibility of developing more eco-efficient local informal processing and treatment, and surmise that metals extracted could be used as inputs for small-scale manufacturing to enhance the local supply chain while also making a sustainable contribution and improving local livelihoods as well as reducing the health risks associated with current processing practices. A "Best-of-2-Worlds Model" (Bo2W) has emerged, after successful trials in India and China (Wang et al, 2012), as an alternative model to resolve the global problem of waste and the current African predicament.…”

Pontas em circuito: as inserções de Gana na Divisão Internacional do Trabalho contemporânea

“…Acredita-se que as atividades de reciclagem e processamento do lixo eletrônicoe a sucessiva exportação da sucata e dos recursos minerais dele extraídoalcancem, juntas, em média, o valor de 52 bilhões de dólares no mundo (BALDÉ et. al., 2015), Em Gana, estima-se que, anualmente, a mineração urbana alcance o valor de 260 milhões de dólares (OTENG-ABABIO et. al., 2014).…”