Electronic Waste Management in Ghana - Issues and Practices

Man has always been proficient producer of waste; however, towards the end of the 20th century saw the upsurge of a new, noxious clutter: the electronic detritus that has come to be known as e-waste. The consumption of electronics: televisions, computers, cell phones, video games, iPods, etc has increased over the last few years, making the electronic industry the world’s largest and fastest growing enterprise [1]. The boom in the consumption of electronic products also come with a price to be paid –the management of the end-of-use products, or the e-waste. According to UN estimates, between 20 to 50 million tonnes of ewaste are generated worldwide annually, accounting for about 5% of all municipal solid waste. Not only is the figure representing the fastest growing municipal waste stream, it also has the potential of increasing further. In the case of mobile phones, for example, 98 million phones are said to be discarded in America annually [1].