Dr. Kwaku Afriyie (right) at the e-waste project site at Agbogbloshie
ABOUT 5,000 scrap dealers are set to be employed under the electronic waste management programme initiated by the government in collaboration with the German Cooperation.
Prior to their engagement, scrap dealers will undergo a three-day training programme in battery waste management and the dismantling of electronics waste in an environmentally-friendly manner.
The e-Waste Programme Manager GIZ, Markus Spitzbart, made this known when the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, paid a working visit yesterday to the e-waste project site at Agbogbloshie in Accra.
He disclosed that the e-waste project had trained and employed about 1,500 youth in battery waste collection, indicating, “We are aiming at employing about 5,000 youth to help reduce battery waste in the country.”
“The scrap dealers will be given incentive payment after their three days programme for the collection of waste battery for recycling. “This initiative is done to minimise the negative environmental and human health hazard of battery burning,” he said.
Dr. Kwaku Afriyie lauded the German Cooperation for its commitment to reducing electronic waste in the country.
According to him, waste from ‘mixed’ batteries was among the most polluting items that harmed the environment, plant and aquatic life.
He said that employing the youth to undertake battery waste collection would help reduce the level of waste in the environment as well as check related health implications.
“Some of the harmful effects of improper dumping of batteries include the release of harmful metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium into the environment, causing soil contamination and water pollution which endangers wildlife and also hazardous to humans.”
He added that, “Government, as part of this project, is incentivising their collection to safeguard human lives and the environment. We are also urging the public not to throw away or dump their batteries along with their domestic waste, but handover to the e-waste collectors.”
In March 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, and the German government jointly inaugurated the first phase of an electronic waste management project at Old Fadama, popularly known as Agbogbloshie.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke