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Title E-waste in developing country context-Issues, challenges, practices, opportunities: The case of sustainable e-waste management in Ghana.
Date 2013
Author(s) Yamoah, Samuel Baah
Contributor(s) Busck, Ole Gunni
Abstract With the increase in the waste stream of obsolete electrical and electronic equipments popularly referred to as 'e-waste' and coupled with the fact that most of these products contain poisonous and hazardous chemicals that could pose serious health and environmental problems, it is imperative that they are managed in a sustainable manner. This report focuses on the e-waste situation in Ghana-problems, challenges, opportunities and what could be done to ensure a more sustainable management of e-waste in Ghana. As part of the compilation of this report, three documents (Ghana e-waste country assessment, Socio-economic assessment and feasibility study on sustainable e-waste management in Ghana and Ghana e-waste project-National Strategy) already written on the e-waste problems, and ways through which they could be managed in a more sustainable manner are used alongside other general literature on e-waste. The concept of good governance as espoused by UNESCAP is used in the analysis aspect of this report to look at how the practice of good governance as well as the use of certain economic instruments (taxes and state subvention schemes) could help in the sustainable management of e-waste in Ghana. Interviews were also used to complement the data used for the analysis of this report. The e-waste situation in Ghana is clearly a disturbing issue (environmental problems as well as health problems) and must be tackled in a much more sustainable way. This requires that the government, public and private institutions, CSOs, individuals, etc all come on board to ensure that sustainable e-waste management in Ghana becomes a reality. <br/>The main findings highlight the relevance and the critical need for the adoption and application of the rule of law, participation and the building of consensus, alongside the creative application of economic instruments to encourage behavior change for the sustainable management of e-waste in Ghana. The study concludes that alongside the need for the adoption and execution of measures that could help in the sustainable e-waste management in Ghana, the role of the government as espoused by Kemp, R et al, (2005) in coordinating and often starting actions, and legitimising and entrenching decisions arrived at for the attainment of the goal of sustainable e-waste management in Ghana is equally critical. <br/> <br/>
Subject(s) E-waste; Sustainable Resource Management; Good Governance; Ghana; Accra; Agbobgloshie; Informal Recycling; Policy formulation; Legal Framework; Socio-economic impact; Environmental Impact; Health Impact; Rule of Law; Participation; Consensus Building; External Producer Responsibility; WEEE; Child Labor
Coverage 38 pages
Language eng
Relation By-, Energi- og Miljøplanlægning, Kandidat; Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Master; 3. semester; 3. Term; http://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/77690409/SAMUEL_BAAH_YAMAOH.pdf_THIRD_SEMESTER_REPORT_E_WASTE_.pdf
Type of publication TERMPAPER
Format application/pdf
Repository Aalborg - Aalborg University
Added to C-A: 2015-04-15;14:12:09