Germany is Helping Ghana to build a €25 million Electronic Waste Recycle Facility and it’s ready
Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would
otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products.
Recycling can benefit your community and the environment.
The German government is supporting the government of Ghana to build a 25 million euros facility to
recycle electronic waste and electronic components in Ghana. The first phase of the project will be
completed by the end of this year 2022. Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical
or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment,
reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste.
According to Dr Kwaku Afriyie who is Ghana’s minister for environment, science, technology and
innovation. In this video, we will share with you why the government of Ghana and that of Germany
are constructing this electronic waste recycling facility. Please make sure to like this video
and subscribe to Africa Reloaded as we move along. The Federal Government of Germany has decided to
commit a total of 25 million Euros to alleviate the environmental impact of electronic waste in
Ghana as part of its development cooperation with Ghana in the field of electronic waste management
and recycling. This was announced yesterday, March 13, 2017, at an official ceremony at the
Alisa Hotel attended by H.E. Christoph Retzlaff, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to
Ghana, Hon. Prof. Kwabena Frimpong - Boateng, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology,
and Innovation, officials from the German Embassy and the ministry, and members of the press.
The three-year e-waste collection and recycling mechanism aims to address the country's e-waste
challenges. The project's focal point is the Agbogbloshie waste site, where toxic substances
emitted by cable burning pollute both the environment and the sea on a daily basis.
The most hazardous e-waste substances will be purchased from the informal sector at competitive
prices, collected in a hand-over center, and put to tender for sound recycling under the project.
Consumer Electronics are now a part of our day to day life.
In fact they are now a symbol of modernity but they also produce a lot of waste
including toilet material and they are a threat to the environment and to the health of humans.
In Ghana, the problem of electronic waste if getting worst day in day out because most of
the electronic entering the Ghanaian market are second hand products. We all know that second
hand products have a shorter life span which gives them a quicker journey to wastelands.
In Ghana and most African countries, we have our own ways of handling these electronic waste
by some people collecting them from our various homes
and selling them to people who have the knowledge to recycle these e waste into different things.
This method provides jobs for thousands of people in Africa.
Even though they are helping to create employment and at the same time they are also helping to
reduce the e waste in our various countries, but their method of processing these electronic waste
is very poor. And because of their poor working conditions, they create land and air pollution.
The government of Ghana recognized this challenge and they developed a legal frame work to solve
this problem in 2016. So in the year 2017, the federal government of Germany decided to help
Ghana with an amount of 25 million euros to build a facility to recycle electronic waste,
electronic equipment in Ghana. The aim of these 25 million euros wan not just to build the facility
to recycle waste and electronic equipment but also to help reduce the environmental impact
of electronic waste and transitioning this waste through proper and sound procedures.
Now in 2022, the first phase of the facility is about 65% completed. This was made known when
the Ghana minister for environment science, technology and innovation to Dr Kwaku Afriyie
toured the facility in Accra to check the level of work done so far. The product will do a lot
of good by increasing the country’s revenue creating employment and preventing health hazards.
A health center financed by the German federal state of Northrhine-Westphalia
will also be stationed on the site for the workers and their families.
The project consists of two parts: a grant of 20 million euros from the KfW
Development Bank to serve as a seed fund for the future recycling fund, and a grant of 5
million euros from the implementing agency GIZ to raise awareness about the most harmful practices.
In his speech, Ambassador Retzlaff stated that, while Ghana is quickly becoming a beacon in West
Africa in electronic waste management as a result of the passage of the "Hazardous and Electronic
Waste Law" in 2016, the worldwide notoriety gained by the Agbogbloshie waste site is a blow to this
record. He did note, however, that the workers at the site are highly organized, effective,
and specialized in their work, which is where this project comes in to partner with them by
providing incentives to get the harmful substances out and recycle them in a sustainable manner.
The project is being constructed by Memphis metropolitan Ltd and Nana dankwa is the
senior project manager. The project could have been completed this month said Nana Dankwa but
due to the covid 19 and other factors including unavailability of materials and workers amongst
others, it delayed, but they will be able to complete construction by the end of this year.
The facility is cited on a 3 acre land and consists of a temporal storage, recycling center,
weighing bridge, guide house and transformer amongst others.
This facility will focus on collecting, recycling and reselling of all types of electronic waste
including cables, batteries, thermo plastics and cathode ray tube TVs
Upon completion, the dumping of e waste all over Ghana will limited, this will create more jobs and
protect the environment and health of humans. Thanks for taking out the time to watch this
video to the end. Please comment so that we could also know your thoughts. Do not forget to like,
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