A total of 90 informal scrap workers have received training in the safe handling of hazardous Electronic Waste (E-Waste) as Ghana steps up efforts to strengthen its e-waste management system and build a more sustainable circular economy.
The six-day training, organized under the Project for Environmentally Sound Disposal and Recycling of E-Waste Project, equipped members of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO) in Kumasi with practical skills to safely collect, handle and transport hazardous e-waste materials.
The initiative comes as Ghana grapples with rising volumes of discarded electronic equipment, increasing the need to protect workers, surrounding communities and the environment from hazardous substances contained in electronic waste.
Participants included scrap workers from Dagomba Line, Akwatia Line and the Ladies in E-Waste and Scrap Association (LEWSA), who received training on the safe management of hazardous e-waste fractions, including cathode ray tubes (CRTs), fluorescent bulbs, electrical wires and primary batteries.
The programme forms part of efforts to implement Ghana’s National Integrated E-Waste Management Scheme, which seeks to formalize e-waste collection and recycling while improving environmental and occupational safety standards.
Beyond safe handling practices, participants were introduced to new income-generating opportunities within the country’s growing e-waste value chain. These included incentive-based collection systems at the National E-Waste Handover Centre and take-back schemes designed to increase the recovery and recycling of electronic products.
The project said strengthening the capacity of informal-sector workers is expected to improve workplace safety, reduce environmental pollution and support the transition to a more resilient circular economy, where valuable materials are recovered and reused instead of being discarded.
The E-Waste Project is commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
Ghana is among several African countries seeking to improve the management of electronic waste as the rapid growth in consumer electronics and digital devices generates increasing volumes of discarded equipment containing both valuable recyclable materials and hazardous substances.
