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Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences 4(5): 605-611, 2012
ISSN: 2041-0492
© Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2012
Submitted: April 07, 2012 Accepted: April 25, 2012 Published: May 15, 2012
Corresponding Author: Sampson M. Atiemo, National Nuclear Research Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, P.O. Box
LG 80, Legon 605
Assessing the Heavy Metals Contamination of Surface Dust from Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (E-waste) Recycling Site in Accra, Ghana
Sampson M. Atiemo, Francis G. Ofosu, I.J. Kwame Aboh and H. Kuranchie-Mensah
National Nuclear Research Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission,
P.O. Box LG 80, Legon
Abstract: The objective of this was to assess the levels of heavy metals contamination within the vicinity of
the Agbogbloshie scrap market. Surface dust samples were collected from various points at the scrap market
and its environs. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry preceded by acid digestion was used to evaluate the
concentration of the heavy metals in the samples. Heavy metals such as Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd gave concentrations
in the range of (10, 575-30, 384 mg/kg), (34-16, 952 mg/kg), (351-5, 105 mg/kg) and (2-72 mg/kg), respectively
which were over thousand times more than the levels for which intervention is required. The scrap weighing
site, the electronic waste dismantling site and the burning site (where electrical cables are burnt to retrieve
metals) recorded the highest levels of heavy metals. Index of geoaccumulation which was employed to
determine the level of pollution of the various elements gave the values in the range of 6.7-8.2 for Zinc (Zn),
4.2-8.1 for lead (Pb) and 3.0-7.8 for Cadmium (Cd) indicating extreme pollution from all the sites. This was
also confirmed by contamination factor calculations. To assess the extent of pollution of each of the site, degree
of contamination was calculated which revealed that the most contaminated site is the Weighing Site (WS)
which recorded Cdeg value of 1482.93, followed by Dismantling Site (DS) 1221.6, Burning Site (BS) 1196.9,
Road Dust (RD) 1061.9, School Compound (SC) 651.44, Commercial Area (CA) 618.6 and Church Premises
(CP) 187.6, respectively. The results also indicate that children living around the scrap market face a very high
risk from the ingestion of toxic metals such as Pb and Cd. The weighing site (HI = 205) at the scrap market by
far pose the greatest cumulative risk followed by the dismantling site (HI = 130), road dust (HI = 88), burning
site (HI = 60), school compound (HI = 52), commercial area (HI = 50) and church premises (HI = 15).
Keywords: E-waste, hazard index, index of geoaccumulation, scrap, toxic
INTRODUCTION
The production of electrical and electronic devices is
the fastest-growing sector of the manufacturing industry
in industrialized countries. Due to the demand for newer,
more efficient and effective technology, the life span of
electronic products is becoming shorter and shorter. As a
result of this phenomenon, older and out-dated electronic
equipment are becoming obsolete and are being discarded
in significant amounts worldwide and are illegally
transported to developing countries as electronic waste (e-
waste) (Puckett et al., 2002; Brigden et al., 2005;
Cobbing, 2008). Electronic-waste (e-waste) refers to end-
of-life electronic products including computers, printers,
photocopy machines, television sets, mobile phones and
toys, which are made of sophisticated blends of plastics,
metals, among other materials. The number of electronic
devices used per capita at the global scale is growing at a
rate of about (4%) and will continue to increase as it is
becoming the fastest waste stream world wide (Hilty
et al., 2004, 2008; UNEP, 2005). It has been estimated
that more than 315 million computers became obsolete
between 1997 and 2004 in the United States alone. The
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2005)
estimate that, 50-80% of the e-waste collected for
recycling in industrialized countries end up in recycling
centers in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the
Philippines (UNEP, 2005). Ghana over the years has
become an e-waste destination and this phenomenon is on
the increase. Every year, 20 to 50 million tonnes of waste
electrical and electronic equipment are generated world-
wide, which pose potential threat to human health and the
environment. Waste Electrical and electronic equipment
can contain many different substances, some of which are
toxic whereas others have a relatively high market value
when extracted. Inadequate disposal and poor recycling
practices in the recovery of precious metals such as gold,
copper and silver contribute to the release of toxic metals
into the environment and which pose health risks to
exposed individuals.
In Ghana, the Agbogbloshie Scrap Market in Accra
is noted for dumping and recovery of materials from e-
Res. J. Environ. Earth. Sci., 4(5): 605-611, 2012
606
wastes. The main electronic wastes processed are obsolete
computers, refrigerators, old tape recorders, scrap
vehicles, used batteries, monitors, television sets and any
used electrical or electronic equipment one can lay hands
on. These used equipments are manually dismantled at
numerous small workshops dotted all over the scrap
market. Certain materials, mainly plastic coated wires and
cables, are then taken to sites on the edge of the market
where they are burned using scattered fires which are set
within this area to enable the retrieval of metals. The
wires and cables are commonly attached to fragments of
other types of materials, including printed circuit boards,
which are also burned (Brigden et al., 2008). This
primitive methods used for e-waste recycling have
contributed to the release of hazardous chemicals
including Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs),
Polybrominated Diphenyls Ethers (PBDEs),
Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins (PCDDs),
Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and heavy
metals (e.g., Cr, Cd, Cu and Pb), which have caused
severe pollution to air, dust, soil and water bodies within
the catchment area. The main objective of this study was
to determine the concentration of heavy metals in surface
dust samples collected from various locations of the
Agbogbloshie Scrap Market and its environs and to assess
their levels of contamination. Index of geoaccumulation
and contamination factors have been used to assess the
levels of contamination.
Index of geoaccumulation (Igeo): The index of
geoaccumulation (Igeo) is widely used in the assessment
of contamination by comparing the levels of heavy metal
obtained to background levels originally used with bottom
sediments (Muller, 1969). It can also be applied to the
assessment of road dust contamination (Lu et al., 2009,
2010; Gowd et al., 2010). It is calculated using the
equation:
1geo = log2 (Cn/1.5Bn) (1)
where Cn is the measured concentration of the heavy
metal in road dust, Bn is the geochemical background
concentration of the heavy metal (crustal average) (Taylor
and McLennan, 1985). The constant 1.5 is introduced to
minimize the effect of possible variations in the
background values which may be attributed to lithologic
variations in the sediments (Lu et al., 2009). The
following classification is given for geoaccumulation
index (Huu et al., 2010; Muller, 1969): <0 = practically
unpolluted, 0-1 = unpolluted to moderately polluted, 1-2
= moderately polluted, 2-3 = moderately to strongly
polluted, 3-4 = strongly polluted, 4-5 = strongly to
extremely polluted and >5 = extremely polluted.
Contamination factor and degree of contamination: To
assess the extent of contamination of heavy metals in the
surface soil samples, contamination factor and degree of
contamination has been used (Rastmanesh et al., 2010).
The Cif is the single element index which is determined by
the relation:
(2)
Ccc
f
io
i
n
i
=
−
1
where; Cif is the contamination factor of the element of
interest; cio-1 is the concentration of the element in the
sample; cin is the background concentration in this study
the continental crustal average has been used (Taylor and
McLennan, 1985).
Cif is defined according to four categories: <1 low
contamination factor; 1-3 moderate contamination factor;
3-6 considerable contamination factor and >6 very high
contamination factor.
The sum of the contamination factors of all the
elements in the sample gives the degree of contamination
as indicated in the equation below:
(3)
CC
f
i
deg
=
∑
Four categories have been defined for the degree of
contamination as follows; <8 (low degree of
contamination); 8-16 (moderate degree of contamination);
16-32 (considerable degree of contamination) and >32
(very high degree of contamination). The threat posed by
heavy metals to human health are caused by a
combination of their chemical characteristics, association
with particulate matter of fine grain sizes, residence time
in the atmosphere and easy transport from emission
sources (Dongarra et al., 2003). Exposure to heavy metals
in surface dust can occur by means of ingestion,
inhalation and dermal contact. In toxicological risk
assessment for non-carcinogenic toxicants, a reference
dose or tolerable daily intake is assumed to be tolerated
by the organism with low or no risk of adverse health
effects (Ferreira-Baptista and De Miguel, 2005).
Populations that are worst affected by exposure to
contaminants are children, pregnant women and the aged.
Children have a greater exposure rate to toxicants than
adults because they breathe more rapidly than adults, can
breathe through their mouth and often engage in a lot of
outdoor activities which lead to high risk of exposure. The
susceptibility of children to the ill health effects of heavy
metals is due to their immatured immune system and
developing organs. Exposure to heavy metals can affect
their respiratory, nervous, endocrine and immune systems
and could increase the risk of cancer in later life.
The daily dose intake ([D(ing)] in mg/kg/day) of
heavy metals from surface dust for infants and children
through ingestion are determined by the relation is given
by:
Res. J. Environ. Earth. Sci., 4(5): 605-611, 2012
607
()
DCmgkg
IngR EF ED
BW AT
ing
()
/**
**
=
−
10
6
where, C is the concentration of elements in the sample,
IngR ingestion rate (mg/day), EF the exposure frequency
(d/y), ED the exposure duration (years), BW the body
weight (kg) and AT is the averaging time (days). The risk
of exposure to a particular toxicant is the Hazard Quotient
(HQ) which is given by:
HQ DI
RfD
=
where, DI is the dose intake by a given route of exposure
for a particular contaminant RfD is the reference dose for
a particular element through a particular route of
exposure. It is assumed that the toxic risks due to the
heavy metals were additive, therefore the HQ value for
each metal at a location were summed to generate the
Hazard Index (HI) (Leung et al., 2010).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Dust samples were taken from the Agbogbloshie
scrap market which is widely recognized as an electronic
waste dump site after the publication of the report by
Greenpeace International (Brigden et al., 2008). The
samples were taken from burning sites, dismantling points
and other public places within the vicinity. At the
sampling sites, about 500 g of composite samples were
collected. A soft touch brush was used for sweeping and
plastic dust pan for collecting. A minimum of ten samples
were collected from each point at 6 days intervals from
October 2008 to March 2009. Separate plastic dustpan
and brush were used for sample collection from each site
into pretreated Ziploc polyethene bags to avoid cross
contamination. The samples were carefully labeled and
taken to the laboratories of the National Nuclear Research
Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission for
elemental analysis. The samples were carefully air-dried
in the laboratory for 1 week and sieved through a 200 :m
mesh nylon sieve to remove debris using Retsch as 200
mechanical shaker for 10 min and 1.5 g of the sample was
weighed into a 100 mL polytetraflouroethylene PTEF
Teflon bombs. Aqua regia solution (1HCl: 2HNO3) was
added followed by 0.25 mL of H2O2. The samples were
digested for 21 min using a milestone microwave
labstation (Ethos 900). After the digestion, the resulting
solution was made up to 20 mL with double distilled H2O.
The concentration of the elements of interest was
determined using Varian AA240FS Atomic Absorption
Spectrophotometer in an acetylene-air flame (Ozaki et al.,
2004; Jaradat and Moman, 1999). The Standard Reference
Material (SRM) IAEA Soil 7 was used for the validation
to verify the accuracy of the results.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The mean concentration of the elements obtained
from SOIL 7 was compared with the certified values by
calculating the ratio of experimental values to certified
reference values. The results gave ratios of 10% or less
indicating the validity of the analytical study.
The result in Table 1 reveal that the concentration of
Pb were in the range 351.1 and 5105.45 mg/kg,
respectively with the highest values recorded at Weighing
Site (WS) (where the dismantled and extracted Pb and
other metals are weighed). During the weighing processes
bare hands were used to collect the samples unto the
weighing scale. This leads to the release of significant
dust hence the risk of inhalation. Other sites within the
vicinity also recorded concentrations which were
thousand times higher than standard set for an
intervention. The site SC is of particular concern because
it is a school compound and Pb is known to cross the
blood brain barrier and exert its toxic effect on children
Table 1: Heavy metal concentrations in dust sampled from the vicinity of the scrape market (mg/kg)
Element Fe Mn Cu Zn Cd Cr Ni Pb
CP Mean 16,743.1 90.7 34.4 10,575.0 2.4 21.6 26.3 351.1
SD 193.8 10.5 5.2 347.2 0.5 2.1 4.2 30.9
DS Mean 17,495.4 294.2 16,318.6 28,957.9 52.1 60.0 101.9 3,162.7
SD 321.2 9.7 531.6 900.6 22.1 5.1 49.5 688.4
WS Mean 17,920.2 293.5 16,951.7 29,720.7 68.5 114.5 191.4 5,105.4
SD 279.4 8.2 641.8 442.7 2.1 19.7 33.6 895.3
BS Mean 16,644.2 145.4 16,627.5 30,384.4 71.6 48.7 95.5 1,321.1
SD 394.0 43.4 622.2 612.1 60.6 17.4 27.5 223.5
CA Mean 16,493.1 189.8 11,589.4 20,847.2 4.4 34.6 28.7 1,149.1
SD 54.9 22.6 3,318.5 1,727.7 1.0 3.9 5.4 218.2
RD Mean 1,7118.0 269.7 31,028.2 22,256.0 5.1 72.4 49.2 1968.4
SD 64.8 70.1 154.2 345.9 0.4 5.2 3.5 100.9
SC Mean 17,543.6 197.4 10,099.1 22,052.3 12.1 105.6 29.9 1,195.2
SD 168.2 35.5 2,614.2 1,216.5 4.7 10.6 4.5 179.3
AT 1,500.0 100.0 300.0 3.0 100 75.0 50.0
IT 2,500.0 200.0 600.0 5.0 300 150.0 100.0
CP: Premises of ICGC headquarters; DS: Dismantling site; WS: Weighing site; BS: Burning Site; CA: Commercial Area; RD: Road dust; AT: Levels
for which attention is required; IT: Levels for which an intervention is required (Lacatusu et al., 2009)
Res. J. Environ. Earth. Sci., 4(5): 605-611, 2012
608
Table 2: Results of index of geoaccumulation (Igeo)
Sample ID Fe Mn Cu Zn Cd Cr Ni Pb
CP -2.3 -4.0 -1.3 6.7 3.0 -2.8 -2.1 4.2
DS -2.3 -2.3 7.6 8.1 7.4 -1.3 -0.2 7.4
WS -2.2 -2.3 7.7 8.1 7.8 -0.4 0.8 8.1
BS -2.3 -3.3 7.7 8.2 7.6 -1.7 -1.0 6.1
CA -2.4 -2.9 7.1 7.6 3.9 -2.1 -2.0 5.9
SC -2.3 -2.9 6.9 7.7 5.2 -0.5 -1.9 6.0
RD -2.3 -2.4 8.6 7.7 4.1 -1.1 -1.2 6.7
Table 3: Contamination factor of sampling sites
Site CP DS WS BS CA SC RD
Fe 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
Mn 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3
Cu 0.6 296.7 308.2 302.3 210.7 183.6 564.1
Zn 151.1 413.7 424.6 434.1 297.8 315.0 317.9
Cd 7.0 255.8 337.5 352.8 17.0 55.3 20.5
Cr 0.2 0.6 1.1 0.5 0.3 1.1 0.7
Ni 0.3 1.3 2.5 1.3 0.8 0.4 0.6
Pb 28.0 252.9 408.4 105.6 91.9 95.5 157.4
such as lowering of IQ and can cause cancer in later life
(Atiemo et al., 2010). The levels of Cd found were in the
range of 2.4 and 71.5 mg/kg, respectively. The toxicity of
Cd and it adverse impact on humans and the environment
cannot be overemphasized. Apart from the samples from
the headquarters of ICGC the rest of the sites had
concentrations which were above the guidance values for
intervention. The dust from the electronic waste burning
site recorded the highest concentration of the Cd this was
followed closely by the weighing point. The school
compound where the sampling was done recorded Cd
concentration of 12.07 mg/kg which is about 240% more
than the value that can trigger an intervention. In a similar
study by Leung et al. (2010) Cd concentration was in the
range of 5 to 10 mg/kg in a school yard, respectively. The
concentrations of Cu and Zn range between 34.4 to
16,951.7 and 10,575.0 to 30,384.45 mg/kg, respectively.
Whereas the highest concentration of Cu (16,951.7
mg/kg) was obtained from the weighing site, that of Zn
(30,384.4 mg/kg) was obtained from the burning site.
These concentrations which are more than one thousand
times the concentrations requiring interventions (Lacatusu
et al., 2009) which reflect the activities that are
undertaken at the sites. Cr, Mn, Fe and Ni also gave very
high concentrations from most of the sites. Ni and Cr
recorded values that exceed both alert and intervention
levels for the samples from the weighing site. For Mn
none of the value exceeded the guidance levels giving
indication of minimal pollution from Mn.
The index of geoaccumulation (Table 2) was
calculated to determine the level of pollution of surface
dust from the sampling site by the various elements. The
results show that Fe, Cr, Ni and Mn indicated no pollution
from all the sites since all the Igeo values for these
elements fell below zero. However, minimal pollution was
observed for at Ni at the Weighing Site (WS) with an Igeo
value of 0.8. Copper showed extremely high pollution at
all the sites with the exception of the Church Premises
(CP). The highest Igeo value for Copper was observed in
road dust. This was a bit surprising because Cu is one of
the metals that are retrieved in the e-waste burning.
However, it is known that Copper forms an integral part
of brake wear and therefore high concentrations have
been found in road dust studies (Atiemo et al., 2012;
Thorpe and Harrison, 2008). Zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and
cadmium (Cd) showed extreme case of pollution from all
the sites with Igeo values in the range 6.7-8.2, 4.2-8.1 and
3.0-7.8, respectively. The Weighing Site (WS) recorded
the highest Igeo values for Cd and Pb whereas the Burning
Site (BS) recorded the highest concentration for Zn. In all
cases the church premises recorded the lowest Igeo values
but it fell within the range moderate to considerable
pollution.
Results of the calculated contamination factor are
presented in Table 3. It shows that contamination of
surface soil with respect to Fe and Mn was very low at all
the sites. The result also revealed that the Church
Premises (CP), consistently recorded low contamination
factor which is in line with the levels of contamination
observed. Result of the elements Cu and Cd, gave
indication of very high contamination factor at all the sites
with the exception of CP. Zn and Pb recorded very high
levels of contamination at all the sites.
The calculated degree of contamination in the
sampling sites is presented in Fig. 1. The results show that
the Church Premise (CP) has the lowest degree of
contamination. This is because the church premises is
located upwind thereby preventing the thick smoke from
the burning site to the premises. However, there is a
thoroughfare from the Burning Site to the church which is
used by many people going in the direction of the church
hence contaminants are carried to the premises. The site
labeled CA (commercial area) showed extremely high
Res. J. Environ. Earth. Sci., 4(5): 605-611, 2012
609
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
CP DS WS BS CA SC RD
Sampling site
D
egree of contain
m
ination
0
50
100
150
200
250
CP DS WS BS CA RD SC
Sampling site
Hazard index (HI)
Fig. 1: Degree of contamination of various sites
Table 4: Hazard Quotient (HQ) for children exposed to heavy metals
from E-waste recycling
Element Fe Mn Cu Zn Cd Cr Ni Pb
CP 0.74 0.03 0.01 0.47 0.06 0.10 0.02 13.37
DS 0.78 0.09 5.44 1.29 1.39 0.27 0.07 120.48
WS 0.80 0.09 5.65 1.32 1.83 0.51 0.13 194.49
BS 0.74 0.04 5.54 1.35 1.91 0.22 0.06 50.33
CA 0.73 0.06 3.86 0.93 0.12 0.15 0.02 43.77
RD 0.76 0.08 10.34 0.99 0.14 0.32 0.03 74.98
SC 0.78 0.06 3.37 0.98 0.32 0.47 0.02 45.53
degree of contamination. As a result of the location of
Banks and other business entities at this site, there are
intense human activities undertaken there. The thick cloud
of smoke from the burning site blows in the direction of
these buildings. Some of the particulates can drop as they
pass over the buildings thereby leading to contaminations.
The School Compound (SC) serves as a place of rest to
some of the people engaged in the scrap business during
the night. This practice is likely to have resulted in the
transport of contaminates from the adjacent scrap market
to the school compound. The countless burning activities
undertaken within the vicinity of the school may also have
contributed to the very high degree of contamination at
the site. Road dust is known to reflect the level of
pollution of a particular site. The contaminants in road
dust may come from exhaust or non exhaust sources
(Atiemo et al., 2010). It is therefore possible that the
combination of vehicular emission and activities of the
scrap dealers, some of which are carried out close to the
road side are responsible for the high degree of
contamination. The Weighing Site (WS), Dismantling Site
(DS) and the Burning Site (BS), respectively recorded the
highest degree of contamination. These are sites with
intense scrap activities within the yard where unscientific
methods are used for dismantling, burning and weighing.
All these activities release high levels of toxic substances
into the environment leading to the exceptionally high
degree of contamination.
Exposure assessment calculations were done based
on the parameters discussed in the introduction and the
results are shown in Table 4. Exposure assessment
involves quantifying the estimated intake of the
contaminant by humans for each exposure pathway
Fig. 2: Cumulative risk of exposure (hazard index) of children
to metals in e-waste
identified. The value obtained, is then used to determine
the risk of non-cancerous or cancerous effect resulting
from exposure to the chemical. In risk assessment studies
the most vulnerable individuals considered are; children,
the aged and pregnant women. In this study, non-
cancerous effect was estimated for children between the
ages of 0-6 years using ingestion as the exposure
pathways. The results show that, HQ values for Pb were
in the range 13.37 to 194.49 with the highest value of
194.49 recorded at the Weighing Site (WS). This value
indicates that an exposed child could consume over
thousand times more than the reference dose for Pb intake
from surface dust at the site. Since Pb is a cumulative
poison and neurotoxic hence prolong exposure can trigger
neurological and developmental disorders in children. For
this reason an HQ value of 45.5 obtained from the School
Compound (SC) should be of serious concern. Cadmium
gave HQ values in the range 0.06 to 1.91 with the highest
HQ values obtained at the Burning Site (BS). This is the
location were plastic coated wires are burnt to retrieve
copper metals. Often children are found loitering around
these areas exposing them to the toxicants. Cadmium is a
very toxic heavy metal which can devastate children’s
immune system within a short period of exposure. Copper
and zinc also recorded varied hazard quotients which are
also major threat to children living in and around the scrap
market.
Fig. 2 shows the cumulative risks of exposure to
surface dust for children living around the area. The
startling results revealed that children living around the
scrap market face strong risk of adverse effect from
exposure to the toxic metals emanating from activities of
the scrape market. The calculated cumulative risks
expressed in terms of Hazard Index (HI) ranged from 15
to 205. These values are over thousand times more
than the safe level of 1.
CONCLUSION
The objective of this study was to assess the
concentration of heavy metals and the levels of
contamination within the vicinity of the Agbogbloshie
Res. J. Environ. Earth. Sci., 4(5): 605-611, 2012
610
scrap market. Surface dust samples were collected from
various points and the vicinity of the scrap market to
assess the levels of contamination within a 500 m radius.
The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to
evaluate the concentration of the heavy metals in the
samples.
The results revealed that heavy metal contamination
is pervasive in the area. This may be due to lack of
legislation or the limited legislation regulating the method
used to recover precious metals). It was observed that
heavy metals such as Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd gave
concentrations which were over thousand times more than
the levels for which intervention is required. The scrap
weighing site, the electronic waste dismantling site and
the burning site recorded the highest levels of the heavy
metals. Road dust as well as dust from a nearby school
compound also gave an alarming concentration of these
heavy metals. Index of geoaccumulation which was
employed to determine the level of pollution of the
various elements showed that almost all the sites have
been polluted with respect to Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd. This
result was confirmed by the calculated contamination
factor. To assess the extent of pollution of each of the site,
degree of contamination was calculated which revealed
that the most contaminated site is the Weighing Site
(WS), followed by Dismantling Site (DS), Burning Site
(BS), Road Dust (RD), School Compound (SC),
Commercial Area (CA) and church premises,
respectively. The results also indicate that children
leaving around the scrap market face a very high risk from
the ingestion of toxic metals such as Pb and Cd. The
weighing site (HI = 205) at the scrap market by far pose
the greatest cumulative risk followed by the dismantling
site (HI = 130), road dust (HI = 88), burning site (HI =
60), school compound (HI = 52), commercial area (HI =
50) and church premises (HI = 15).
It is highly recommended that further research study
be carried out into the mode of operation of the scrap
dealers and to recommend environmentally friendly
methods of extracting the desired metals from the waste.
These sites are really contaminated and remedial
measures would be required if the site is to be used for
other purposes in future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would want to acknowledge the
contribution made by Mr. Eric Achaw Kwasi who helped
with the sampling and Mr. Nash O. Bentil for helping
with the analysis.
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