Waste Disposal In Ghana

One thing that struck me when I was in Ghana in 2008 was the lack of rubbish disposal. Its something we in Australia seriously take for granted and until you don't have the luxury, you don't realise how much you rely on it. Here, every week I put dozens of plastic filled bags into the garbage bin. A truck comes on Monday and takes it away. There was no such system when in Ghana. Firstly, there weren't even any bins (apart from 2 in the larger city near our village). At school I watched in horror as children threw their plastic and paper onto a pile which was burnt every 2nd day. Thick black poisonous smoke enveloped the playground as small girls and boys no older than 7 years old poked it with a stick.

I asked Mr. Anan, a head teacher at the school I was assisting at if he knew of the dangers of the smoke but he just laughed (like he did at most questions I asked), “what you don't burn the rubbish in Australia?”. Another alarming thing I saw was when we required some paint for a classroom that was being built at our school. A young boy, around 10 years old was physically mixing the paint with his hands. This was his job and he did it for hours every day.

Toxic E-waste

Toxic e-waste trade is something I have only really learnt about this year. E-waste refers to electric goods such as old computers, televisions, mobile phones and refrigerators.
Ashamedly I didn't really stop and think about all the second hand electronic shops in the main cities of Ghana when I was living there. As part of my studies on globalisation and world poverty we read some very interesting articles by Vandana Shiva – a leading environmentalist, activist and academic. She believes globalisation is “environmental apartheid” and that we are destroying developing nations livelihood's through economic liberalisation. It is 10 times cheaper to dump e-waste in African nations than it is to dispose of it in Europe and although the trade is illegal – millions of tonnes of e-waste are exported throughout the world annually. And it is killing people. Men, women and children are taking apart electronic devices to salvage smaller parts, scrap metal and copper. Chemicals are transferred to the skin and pollute the air during burnings.

I found this eye opening video on e-waste in Ghana and I highly recommend you watch it. Please see here.

Rubbish tip in Mole National Park - Ghana