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E-waste interventions in Ghana

  • Kwadwo Ansong Asante EMAIL logo , John A. Pwamang , Yaw Amoyaw-Osei and Joseph Addo Ampofo
Published/Copyright: January 20, 2016
Reviews on Environmental Health
From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 31 Issue 1

Abstract

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has become an emerging environmental and human health problem in the world in the 21st century. Recently, the developing nations of West Africa (e.g. Ghana and Nigeria) have become a major destination for e-waste worldwide. In Ghana, the e-waste recyclers use primitive methods (mechanical shredding and open burning) to remove plastic insulation from copper cables. This technique can release highly toxic chemicals and severely affect the environment and human health if improperly managed. It is as a result of the adverse impact on human health that some interventions are being made in Ghana to reduce exposure. The present mode of recycling/dismantling, which happens at Agbogbloshie must be replaced by official receiving/recycling centers to be established. Currently, equipment to strip both large and small cables are available in the country via the Blacksmith Institute (USA) and it is expected that the e-waste workers will embrace the use of these machines. This technology will go a long way to help prevent the burning of e-waste and will be replicated in other smaller e-waste centers in the country.

Keywords: Agbogbloshie; E-waste; Ghana; intervention
Corresponding author: Kwadwo Ansong Asante, CSIR Water Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 38, Achimota, Accra, Ghana, Phone: +233208404949, E-mail:

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Received: 2015-10-14
Accepted: 2015-11-02
Published Online: 2016-01-20
Published in Print: 2016-03-01

©2016 by De Gruyter

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https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2015-0047
Keywords for this article
Agbogbloshie; E-waste; Ghana; intervention

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
  4. A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
  5. Exposure to Metals
  6. Arsenic projects in SE Asia
  7. Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
  8. Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
  9. Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
  10. Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
  11. Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
  12. Mining
  13. Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
  14. The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
  15. Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
  16. Hazardous Waste
  17. Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
  18. Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
  19. Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
  20. Water
  21. Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
  22. Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
  23. Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
  24. Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
  25. What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
  26. Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
  27. Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
  28. Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
  29. Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  30. Environmental Justice and Human Rights
  31. Creating healthy and just bioregions
  32. Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
  33. Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  34. Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
  35. EcoSystem
  36. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
  37. Exposure to e-waste
  38. E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
  39. Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
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  42. CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
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  44. Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
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  48. Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
  49. Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
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