Kenneth Ashigbey launches Carista Ghana E-Waste Management Project

By Iddi Yire/Doris Amenyo, GNA

Accra, Oct 24, GNA – Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, the out-going Managing Director, Graphic Communications Group Limited, has launched the Carista Ghana E-Waste Management Project in Accra.

Carista Ghana, which is the development and relief wing of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, is committed to leading the Church’s effort in Ghana to address the looming health and environmental calamity of e-waste.

The Carista Ghana E-Waste Management project involves undertaking advocacy for adequate policy response, undertaking nation-wide public education and sensitisation for behavioural and attitudinal change about disposal of e-waste, and the setting up of actual collection centres of e-waste for proper recycling.

Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices.

Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also considered e-waste.

Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution.

The Carista Ghana project partners include GIZ, AAA Infrastructure and Strategic Power Solutions (SPS).

At the project launch, Mr Ashigbey called on all and sundry to deal with the challenges of consumerism, irresponsible development, environmental degradation and global warming.

He further called on all to do their little best, so that they could leave the world a better place than they found it; declaring that “If you will not be able to do anything to improve it, at least leave it in a state in which our children and our children’s children will also be able to and enjoy what God has given unto us”.

He said it was rather unfortunate that among the most toxic places, in terms of e-waste was Agbogbloshie in Accra.

He said the Graphic Communications Group would allocation ten thousand worth of advert slots in their newspapers to the Carista Ghana E-Waste Management Project.

Mr Samuel Zan Akologo, the Executive Secretary, Carista Ghana, said the burning of e-waste was harming people’s health and devastating the environment.

“It is now known that Agbogbloshie here in Accra is among the most concentrated e-waste sites in the world. Ghanaians including some of us here, are still disposing their end-of-cycle mobile phone batteries by ordinary and common ways,” he stated.

He appealed for proper disposal of e-waste through recycling to avoid any damage to human health and the environment.

He said collection and recycling of e-waste requires partnership and collaboration, hence, Carista Ghana and GIZ had signed a memorandum of intention for technical support.

He said they intend to set-up e-waste management as a social enterprise venture whereby the collection, management and sale of the by-products from e-waste would generate income to support other social needs of very deprived communities and the poor.

He said on the drawing board now was a project to supply durable solar lamps to households of rural communities, which were without electricity for the use of school children.

“This is meant to replace the use of kerosene lamps which has toxic fumes that are harmful to child-users,” he said.

“We are planning to support communities without safe drinking water with water purification systems to rid them of water-borne diseases and enhance their help,” he added.

Mr Akologo said partnership discussions were far announced for Carista Ghana to receive donation of durable solar lamps with a minimum life cycle of three years for distribution to poor rural communities without connection to the national grid system.

“We use this opportunity to appeal to the relevant State Agencies to grant tax waivers, whenever necessary for the devices that are intended to serve the needs of the poor,” Mr Akologo stated.

Mr Marcus Spitzbart, GIZ, Head of Programme, Sustainable Management and Disposal E-Waste in Ghana, said the social recycling business of Carista Ghana would provide an ideal institutional and company framework, where the ecologies charged to the manufacturers and importers as part of the future electronic product recycling – system, could be used to ensure environmentally sound e-waste recycling through the recycling fund.

He said it was crucial that the Government of Ghana established the legal framework to ensure the proper working of the recycling fund as soon as possible.

Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, the Board Chairman, GRIDCO, who chaired the function appealed to the media to support the Carista Ghana E-Waste Management Project to succeed.

GNA

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