Processes and Challenges associated with informal electronic waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a worldwide problem in terms of increasing production rate in the global waste stream. Its recycling is known to be associated with adverse health outcomes. The recycling site at Agbogbloshie is a major e-waste recycling hub which presents enormous health threats to the residents in this community as a result of exposure to complex mixtures of chemicals associated with the poor work methods employed. This paper describes the processes involved in e-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie and discusses some of the associated health and psychosocial challenges. Direct field observations and in-depth interviews of eight e-waste workers were conducted from November, 2017 to December, 2017. Results from a thematic analysis of the data gathered; suggest that inappropriate recycling methods, financial constraints, and the high physical demands of e-waste recycling work were associated with adverse musculoskeletal health conditions among the workers. A more systematic ergonomic study is currently being undertaken to quantify the associations between physical work exposures and worker musculoskeletal health among e-waste workers in Agbogbloshie. Further studies that focus on locally adapted ergonomic interventions for effective recycling of e-waste and reducing the health risk to workers are needed.

Full text

Processes and Challenges associated with informal electronic
waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana
Augustine A. Acquah1, Clive D'Souza2, Bernard Martin2, John Arko-Mensah1, Afua Amoabeng Nti1,
Lawrencia Kwarteng1, Sylvia Takyi1, Isabella A. Quakyi1, Thomas G. Robins3, Julius N. Fobil1
1. Department of Biological Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public
Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
2. Center for Ergonomics, Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
3. Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
USA.
Abstract: Electronic waste (e-waste) is a worldwide problem with regards to its increasing rate in the
global waste stream. Its recycling is known to be associated with adverse health outcomes. The recycling
site at Agbogbloshie is a major e-waste recycling hub which presents enormous health threats to the
residents in this community as a result of exposure to complex mixtures of chemicals associated with the
poor work methods employed. This paper describes the processes involved in e-waste recycling at
Agbogbloshie and discusses some of the associated health and psychosocial challenges. Direct field
observations and in-depth interviews of eight e-waste workers were conducted from November, 2017 to
December, 2017. Results from a thematic analysis of obtained data suggest that inappropriate recycling
methods, financial constraints, and the high physical demands of e-waste recycling work were associated
with adverse musculoskeletal health conditions among the workers. A more systematic ergonomic study is
currently being undertaken to quantify the associations between physical work exposures and worker
musculoskeletal health among e-waste workers in Agbogbloshie. Further studies are needed that focus on
locally adapted ergonomic interventions for effective recycling of e-waste and reducing the health risk to
workers.
INTRODUCTION
Technological advancement and high demand for new
electronic and electrical equipment has resulted in high
turnover and shorter lifespan for these equipment. This
phenomenon has presented the world with a huge burden of
managing end-of-life electrical products. Tons of e-waste are
dumped in developing countries and eventually become a
problem to manage (Bakhiyi et al., 2018). A greater part of the
challenge in managing e-waste in developing countries is lack
of appropriate recycling methods and technology required for
efficient extraction of the required constituents from old or
discarded electronics, while minimising occupational health
risk to e-waste recycling workers (Zhang & Xu, 2016).
In most developing countries, those engaged in recycling
activities often belong to vulnerable groups in society (Zhang
& Xu, 2016), and their livelihood is fully dependent on
earnings from e-waste recycling activities (Amankwaa, 2013).
Agbogbloshie is one of the world’s largest e-waste recycling
sites creating a potential for numerous health challenges.
Agbogbloshie has served as a major e-waste hub for over a
decade (Davis et al., 2018) with an estimate of over 171,000
tons of e-waste processed annually (Prakash et al., 2010). The
fact that rudimentary methods are used for e-waste processing
presents occupational health and environmental problems.
This paper aims to describe the processes involved in
manual e-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, and highlights the
health and psychosocial challenges associated with this type of
work.
METHODS
This study was conducted at the Agbogbloshie e-waste
processing site located in the heart of Accra, adjacent to the
Agbogbloshie food market, and close to the central business
district. The study employed a qualitative approach relying on
direct visual observations and interviews. The study was
approved by the institutional review board of the University of
Ghana, College of Health Sciences.
Eight (8) e-waste workers were engaged in in-depth
interviews. Initially, an interview guide was developed
through rigorous literature search in addition to field
observations at the e-waste site. The interview guide required
workers to describe; in detail, the processes and tools used
during e-waste recycling. Workers were also asked about the
reasons for their choice of the specific e-waste job category
they worked in, the health challenges they experience from
their work the level of stress or difficulty associated with their
work and their ability to cope with these stressors. A series of
walk through observations were done to supplement
information obtained from the interviews. The interviews
lasted between 10 to 15 minutes and were recorded using a
Sony™ voice recorder. The audio recordings were transferred
onto a computer for transcription and subsequent analysis.
An interpretive analysis approach was used to analyse
the data. A reflective cognitive approach was used in
explaining the observations made as recommended by Gambo
(2017).

RESULTS
Demographics
The study sample comprised eight male e-waste workers
with ages ranging from 19 to 34 years and with an average 
SD age of 25.88  5.22 years. Five of the participants had
primary education, one had completed junior high school and
two had been educated up to senior high school. The number
of years they had worked as e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie
ranged from 3 years to 10 years with an average of 6.88  3.00
years. Participants worked 3 to 6 days a week depending on
the availability of e-waste to recycle.
Description of e-waste recycling processes at Agbogbloshie
Figure 1 is a flowchart summarizing the observed e-
waste recycling processes at Agbogbloshie. There are 3 main
job categories among e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie,
namely, representing the essential activities of collection,
dismantling and burning of e-waste and interspersed with
other supporting tasks (Acquah et al., 2018, unpublished).
Figure 1: Flowchart showing e-waste recycling processes at
Agbogbloshie.
Collection of e-waste could span the entire working shift
which is usually from 6am to 5pm. It involves workers
travelling to different neighbourhoods in the city and
surrounding towns in search of end-of-life electronics.
Workers usually walk to these places pulling a collection cart
along as shown in Figure 2A. E-waste is sometimes collected
for free from small local dumps, or are purchased from owners
for a small fee. The collected e-waste is loaded onto a cart and
pulled to the dismantling site where it is sold to dismantlers or
dismantled by the same collectors. Some collectors who may
be fortunate to have motor bikes or bicycles may use these as
a means of transportation during the collection process.
Occasionally, when collectors gather very large quantities of
e-waste that may not fit on their bikes or collection carts, they
hire the services of transporters who use tricycles to aid in
conveying the items to the e-waste site. These tricycles are
commonly known among the workers as “motor king”. The
transporters (motor king riders) are usually stationed adjacent
the main dismantling area close to the main Agbogbloshie
street awaiting customers who require their transport services.
In addition to e-waste purchased from the neighbouring towns,
cargo trucks full of imported e-waste were occasionally seen
making their way into the e-waste site. Illegal import of e-
waste is a major source of e-waste in Ghana (Balde et al.,
2015). The e-waste from these trucks are subsequently sold to
e-waste workers for recycling.
E-waste items brought to the dismantling site are sorted
initially into two groups as shown in Figure 1. The first
involves an attempt to salvage e-waste that could be reused.
Electronic items that may not be completely damaged and
could be repaired for reuse are sold to a group of workers
called repairers whose main interest is to refurbish e-waste and
resell them to consumers. The second process of sorting
involves collating of items that can be dismantled which are
then sold to dismantlers.
Dismantling involves the use of predominantly locally
made simple tools such as hammer and chisel and occasionally
screw drivers and spanners to break apart e-waste in order to
separate the different metals (Figure 2B). The metal
constituents are usually copper, iron and aluminium. Items
usually dismantled includes, computers, fans, refrigerators, air
conditioners, photocopy machines, car engines as well as
starters and any other item gathered that is likely to contain
some metal constituent. A typical dismantling session lasts
between 3 to 4 hours.
Dismantling is usually done employing one of three
postures. Smaller electrical gadgets are usually dismantled
while sitting and supporting the object being dismantled with
the feet as illustrated in Figure 2B. Occasionally, dismantlers
may need to stand and bend over to dismantle larger items
such as car engine blocks or static condenser components from
refrigerators. The third major posture adopted, consists of
prolonged standing upright to dismantle very large objects.
During the walkthrough observations, some dismantlers were
observed dismantling a minibus using this posture. After e-
waste items are dismantled, they are then sorted into their
respective metallic constituents and items that could not be
dismantled are sent for burning to recover the metal
constituents (e.g., electric cables) as shown in Figure 2C.
Collection of e-waste
Sorting of collected items
Dismantling of
sorted items
Burning of
items that
cannot be
dismantled
(e.g., Copper
wires)
Refurbishing of
sorted items
Weighing of
recycled items
(copper, aluminum,
iron)
Selling of
refurbished
items to
consumers
Selling of
retrieved metals
from e-waste

A: Collectors pulling a cart with e-
waste
B: Dismantling of e-waste
C: Carrying cables for burning
Figure 2: Picture showing the three main e-waste activities performed at Agbogbloshie.
Burning involves setting up fire to items using foam
materials retrieved from spoilt refrigerators. A single burning
session of e-waste lasts between 30 to 45 minutes. A long
metal rod is used to rotate/flip the burning items to ensure a
uniform distribution of the fire and expose the metal. The final
metallic end products retrieved from burning and dismantling
are then sent for weighing.
Weighing of e-waste involves placing the sorted
retrieved metals (e.g., copper, aluminium, iron) onto a
weighing scale to determine its resale value. Copper is sold at
a higher price than aluminium which is also sold at a higher
price than iron. The retrieved metals are often sold to
middlemen. These middle men buy processed e-waste from
workers in small quantities and gather them into larger piles to
be sold at higher rates to industrial companies in Tema, an
industrial city in Accra, where these are processed into iron
rods, roofing sheets, cooking utensils and gas cookers
(Amankwaa, 2013).
Health risks of e-waste recycling in Agbogbloshie
This study investigated health and psychosocial
challenges among the 3 main e-waste job categories
(Collectors, dismantlers and burners). Participants were
interviewed about the health challenges experienced during
their work. Symptoms reported included burns and lacerations,
musculoskeletal pains, headaches, elevated body temperature
and respiratory issues (e.g., coughs). A few sample quotes
from participants are provided below.
“You see my hand? It is fire that burned it to make it
appear this way” – 23 years old, e-waste burner
“When the smoke is inhaled by you, you will
experience coughing at night. And the phlegm
produced are blackish in colour just like the colour of
the smoke from the burning. When you cough, it will
make you feel pain.”- 23 years old, e-waste burner.
“When we go back home and sleep, we realize that
your body aches……. your body becomes hot. Then
you go and buy ‘Kwik Action’ and you take it as
medication then you sleep…….When it becomes hot, I
take Kwik Action to make it cool.” – 28 years old e-
waste burner.
“I get joint pains and headaches from the hot sun”
29 years e-waste collector.
Six out of the 8 workers interviewed reported body pains as a
frequently experienced health challenge. These workers rely
extensively on pain medications in order to cope with the
symptoms. This is indicated in some quotes from workers
reported below.
“You see when it comes and maybe you get some
pain killer, maybe it will take a day or two and it will
just go” – 24-year-old, e-waste dismantler,
“You need to take pain killers before you can sleep”
– 19-year-old, e-waste dismantler.
Psychosocial challenges
Interviewed workers overwhelmingly considered the
work of e-waste recycling to be stressful and difficult to
perform. Below are some reports from the workers
interviewed:
“The job is very difficult to do….. I want to quit it.
The last time, I was injured by it and I want to quit”
23 years old, e-waste burner.
“Every aspect of the work is difficult……It’s not
good for a human being to do this work.” 30 years
old, e-waste burner.
Interviewed workers complained about the high physical
demands of e-waste recycling which makes it a difficult job to
cope with. The desire to quit e-waste recycling was obvious

among participants. Participants also expressed concerns that,
although their work presented injury risk, a leave of absence
from work presented the risk of losing prior customers to other
workers. Thus, workers felt the need to push themselves to the
limit and work every day despite their injuries.
Workers also complained about the low revenue they
earn from e-waste recycling as indicated in the quote below:
“I work for long hours and I only earn a little
money….when I make enough money, I will quit this
job and find a less risky job” 23 years old, e-waste
burner.
One of the participants reported earning between GH¢20 to
GH¢50 Ghana cedis (about $4 to $10) a week. According to
the worker this income is inadequate and does not allow
saving to generate some capital to change job.
Burning of e-waste usually requires very little or no
revenue to operate. Thus, workers who lack the financial
resources needed to buy e-waste resort to engaging in e-waste
burning. One burner admitted that although high risks are
associated with burning of e-waste, he does not have enough
money to buy e-waste from collectors to dismantle and as such
continues in his current job until he can raise enough money to
find another job.
“I don’t have a job and I don’t have money to buy
from the others to dismantle. That’s why I am doing
this work little by little.” 23 years old, e-waste
burner.
For this worker, since, burning of e-waste does not really
require purchasing of items, it was much easier to cope with.
Thus, he waits for his other colleagues to dismantle their
purchased good and then help them recover metals via burning
at a fee from items such as copper wires that cannot be
dismantled.
The e-waste job category an e-waste worker was enrolled
into was largely influenced by the person who initially
introduced them to e-waste recycling and provided the initial
financial support to work with. Thus, workers were compelled
to continue work in the same e-waste job category as their
financiers.
DISCUSSION
The present study qualitatively described the processes
involved in e-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana,
as well as explored the health and psychosocial challenges
encountered by workers. Basic collecting, dismantling and
open-air burning are used to retrieve essential metals from e-
waste during the recycling process. The e-waste recycling
process relies on the use of simple manual tools such as hand-
pulled collection carts; hammers, chisels, spanners and screw
drivers for dismantling as well as the use of long metal rods or
pipes for rotating, flipping and moving items burnt during
recycling. Whiles it seems cost effective, these tools are
inefficient and subject workers to high risks of
musculoskeletal injury.
Laceration injuries were common among e-waste
workers. Earlier studies conducted at Agbogbloshie, have
reported a 96.2% prevalence of lacerations among e-waste
workers (Adusei et al., 2015, unpublished) which is
exceptionally high. Similarly, burn injuries were a common
challenge reported among burners. The lack of appropriate
personal protective equipment (PPE) usage during burning
may be a significant contributing factor to the occurrence of
these injuries. Burners at Agbogbloshie usually wear boots to
protect their feet and long clothes to cover their limbs and
torso. That notwithstanding, the clothes worn were regular
clothes and not fire retardant. Workers hands and faces are
usually left exposed and were the common sites of burn
injuries. A burner narrated an account of how his younger
brother sustained serious injuries to the face during e-waste
burning. Other workers had various scars on their hands to
show for the numerous instances of burns they had
experienced. Injuries sustained during e-waste recycling may
be devastating, disabling, and life threatening.
The use of gloves, nose masks and other PPE was not a
common practice. According to the participants, PPE was
occasionally provided by donor groups in limited supply.
However, when the PPEs were worn out, workers were unable
to replace these on their own and so their use was
discontinued.
In addition to burns and injuries, participants reported
episodes of coughs and chest pain from coughing. The
exposure of e-waste workers to high volumes of smoke from
the burning process poses a great risk to the respiratory system
and health of these workers. Amankwaa (2013), reported high
acute respiratory infections among e-waste workers in
Agbogbloshie. Other global studies have shown significant
relationships between e-waste recycling and adverse
respiratory health outcomes (Zheng et al., 2013). The use of
face masks could have been a first line attempt to reducing
respiratory exposures by e-waste workers. This was, however,
not the practice at Agbogbloshie.
Participants in this present study reported body pain after
the workday. E-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie entails
multiple instances of lifting, bending and twisting as well as
assuming non-neutral postures for prolonged periods. These
activities are suspected to cause musculoskeletal pain (Wai et
al., 2010) and disorders (Chaffin et al., 2006). Unpublished
results from a study by the Global Environmental and
Occupational Health (GEOHealth) research group of the
University of Ghana (GEOHealth, 2019) showed a 90%
prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among
e-waste workers.
In an attempt to manage the pain experienced by workers
during e-waste recycling, e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie
resort to self-medication and excessive reliance on pain
medication. The over-dependence and inevitable abuse of
these medications is a worrying health concern. Recent media
reports in Ghana indicated a surge in tramadol abuse
(GhanaWeb, 2018) and this was particularly evident during
our field observations. Workers were seen mixing tramadol
with energy drinks and consumed during work. Workers
interviewed in this study indicated that, it helps them to work
for longer periods without experiencing body pain or fatigue.
The self-medication habits as well as the possible abuse of
tramadol may result in long term health consequences.

Immediate measures to address this problem could save
workers from expected adverse effects.
High level of stress as well as excessive physical demand
were a concern to participants. Participants complained about
the difficult nature of their job and consistently expressed
great dissatisfaction with their jobs. Although e-waste
recycling provides some form of livelihood, little income is
earned by workers despite the excessive physical demands of
the job. Psychosocial risk factors such as high job demands
and low job satisfaction have been shown to increase the level
of stress of workers and subsequently increasing their chances
of experiencing musculoskeletal disorders (Bongers et al.,
1993; Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific
Research, 2017). Hence, it is suspected that, some of the
psychosocial challenges experienced by e-waste workers at
Agbogbloshie may have a bearing on the musculoskeletal
symptoms experienced by these workers and could require
further investigation.
Despite these obvious challenges associated with e-waste
recycling at Agbogbloshie, the lack of the needed financial,
social and governmental support required to address the
increasing problem of e-waste recycling, compels these
workers to continue in this hazardous trade.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The methods used in recycling of e-waste at
Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana are rudimentary and manual.
These occupational exposures have undesirable health
implications for workers. Although workers are unsatisfied
with their working conditions and income earned, finding
alternate jobs is challenging.
An ergonomic study is underway to quantify the
associations between physical work exposures and worker
musculoskeletal health among e-waste workers in
Agbogbloshie (Acquah et al., 2018, unpublished). The purpose
of this study is to identify and reduce the adverse effects of e-
waste recycling by improving procedures used in recycling as
well as educating workers on observing health and safety
protocols. Further research is needed to identify locally
adapted ergonomic interventions for effective recycling of e-
waste and reducing the health risks to workers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project was funded by the National Institute of
Health through the West Africa-Michigan Collaborative
Health Alliance for Reshaping Training, Education and
Research (CHARTER) II for Global Environmental and
Occupational Health (GEOHealth) programme.
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