Money Dey for Borla

Through recent years, Agbogbloshie in Ghana’s capital Accra has received increasing public attention for being the world’s presumably largest dumpsite for waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste). While the environmental pollution and adverse health impacts of improper e-waste recycling are dire, crude recycling techniques are not solely restricted to the Old Fadama Scrap Yard in Agbogbloshie, but can in fact be observed throughout the entire country.

With the introduction of various legal instruments, the government of Ghana has made landmark achievements in curbing unsustainable e-waste management practices. More recently, the passing of the E-waste Management Guidelines has laid out the foundations to formalising informal workers along the entire value chain. However, effective implementation will ultimately depend on the dissemination of knowledge amongst a wide range of actors.

The European Commission’s SWITCH Africa Green program is funding a four-year project on E-waste Management in Ghana (E-MAGIN Ghana). The project's aim is to formalise informal stakeholders, establish a nation-wide collection mechanism, conducting trainings and capacity building programs as well as providing decision-support to decision makers through dialogue events, studies and policy briefs.

The report "Money Dey for Borla" is based on more than 120 data points from qualitative interviews and quantitative rapid assessments. It delivers a brief synopsis of the current status of e-waste management in Ghana followed by a deep-dive of the value chain in qualitative and quantitative terms. This is complemented by a description of present challenges experienced by (primarily) Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and suggestions for improvements.

Edited by Rosemond Boheene; Daniel Agyapong (University of Cape Coast); Lambert Faabeloun; Letitia Tuepke (Ghana National Cleaner Production Centre); Jürgen Meinel; Vivian Ahiayibor (City Waste Recycling).