Post date: Feb 10, 2013 7:53:1 PM
Ghana's Energy Commission enforces a ban on the importation of used refrigerators and air-conditioners into the country in a bid to cut e-waste and reduce high energy consumption from less efficient electronics.
ACCRA, GHANA (RECENT) (REUTERS) - If you are shopping for a used refrigerator in Accra, Ghana, then you will find a variety of brands on display at the Abeka Labaz neighbourhood.
Christiana Azethey-Boakye, sells various used electronics here. She has been in the business for about eight years now but is worried that a government ban on imported second hand refrigerators may soon see her close down."As if the government is squeezing us into a corner, a tight corner, we are talking about unemployment here, and with this ban on this (used fridges ban) I employ three people, all the three people are going home without any job to do," said Christina.
The ban was first introduced in the country in 2008 but was extended to allow dealers enough time to make adjustments before the new regulations are enforced.
The country's Energy Commission has introduced a scheme to help entrepreneurs trade-off their old refrigerators for new energy efficient ones.
The project is funded by the Government and other partners, but even then, some residents like Akwasi Yobo are still not happy with the new directive.
"The government ban on used fridges is not good, not all of us can afford a fridge from the stores, and this business helps traders here cater for their families needs, the government should lift the ban," he said.
Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkora, the executive secretary of Ghana's Energy Commission says that second-hand refrigerators use high energy consumption and are hazardous.
"The decision was taken to phase out used refrigerators not necessarily because they are used but because they are mainly not designed for use in the tropics, they are mainly designed for use in the temperate climate and therefore when they bring them here, whether they are new or old, they consume a lot of electricity. The second reason is for environmental purposes, many of these refrigerators might have served their owners for 10 years or 15 years, many of these refrigerators were manufactured many years ago and they contain gases which are prohibited under the Montreal Protocol," he said.
In the past, Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency has been accused of dragging its feet in regulating the way waste is managed in the country.
A number of old fridges that contain chlorofluorocarbon or CFCs that damage the ozone layer are still in use in Africa.
The United Nations estimates that up to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste is globally produced every year. Some of this waste ends up in Ghana including computers and television sets that environmentalists say contain toxic material.
On the other side of town at Agbogbloshie, people scavenge for metal parts from remnants of various broken electronic goods that they will later sell as scrap.
The scrap yard stretches for miles and about 600 people make a living here. The remaining plastic parts are later burned off in fires.
Some dealers say they can make up to 200 dollars a day here, but health experts warn that prolonged exposure to these metals can result in diseases like bladder and liver cancer as well lead poisoning, among others.
Inusah Hannan is a scrap metal dealer at the dumpsite.
"This work is dangerous, it can affect us, even when we marry, so this work can affect us, but we don't know the work we are going to do now so that is why we are here doing it," he said.
Environmental organisation, Greenpeace has accused western governments of dumping their electronic leftovers in Ghana, in violation of the Basel Convention which prohibits the exporting of dangerous waste to other countries.