The majority of the e-waste that ends up in Agbogbloshie first enters the African continent through South Africa via Durban, Tunisia via Bizerte, and Nigeria via Lagos, so shipments containing hazardous materials circumvent the Basel and Bamako Conventions due to wording and labelling tactics. Just in the years 2012, about 150,000 tons of secondhand electronics were imported in Ghana [11]. Once in Ghana, a shipment will most likely reach an informal facility in Accra where end-of-life electronic goods, including high scrap-value goods like automobiles, pile up in one of several locations in the city, like Agbogbloshie. Every day informal recyclers transform used electronic products into working units and extract heavy and precious metals (often by burning electric cables) for reuse in secondhand formal and informal markets. The e-waste that has been either refurbished/repaired or recycled will later arrive in the hands of a middleman. These e-waste intermediaries may be scrap collectors who have ascended within the industry due to their connections in Accra and with international players and/or their monetary power. Many scrap dealers are connected to international scrap firms that are located in the Tema Export Processing Zone. These entities send Ghanaian recovered copper, mixed scraps and other metals to international recycling firms in Europe, China, India, and the Middle East. These international players have greater technical capabilities and accumulate scraps from numerous e-waste hubs, thereby achieving economies of scale in recycling. At the same time, some streams of refurbished and repaired consumer goods, as well as extracted metals, re-enter the Ghanaian domestic market, where firms in Ghana secure locally processed copper and aluminum fractions from scrap dealers. The non-valuable fractions and the unusable/irreparable e-waste components either end up in a formal landfill or in an informal dumping ground to be burned. [2][3][6][7]

All these rudimentary recycling techniques practiced by informal e-waste processers, on the one hand, exacerbate the release of environmental toxins that pollute and contaminate landscapes, waters, and biota of Agbogbloshie. Waste left in fields and nearby waters is ingested by animals and marine life, thus creating entry points for toxins into non-human ecological systems, while indirectly affecting humans via consumption of fish and seafood that are dietary staples for coastal residents of Ghana, increasing their risk of cancer. On the other hand, little-to-no protective measures in use endanger not only the e-waste recyclers, but also local inhabitants, particularly children and infants. Due to the pervasive nature of environmental toxins in the local atmosphere, residents of the nearby settlement of Old Fadama and those working and residing in the central business district are at risk of experiencing high exposure levels on a daily basis. Air samples from the Agbogbloshie Market have revealed heavy metals and polychlorinated naphthalene (PCN) congeners. Blood samples of e-waste recylers have been shown to exhibit elevated concentrations of heavy metals and flame retardants. Indeed, heavy metals and chemical compounds found within electronic devices have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders and/or fetal perturbations. [3][7] In addition, the Agbogbloshie market area is also one of Accra’s largest informal dumpsites, receiving waste from across the city, which has aggravated the sanitary conditions [12].

The organizations IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network) and the Basel Action Network in a 2018 report found that the Agbogbloshie dump contained some of the most hazardous chemicals in the world. [11] A report by the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency says that the waste contains many toxic chemicals, neurotoxins, and carcinogens. E-waste recyclers can develop respiratory illness, developmental and behavioral disorders, damaged immune, nervous and blood systems, kidney damage, impaired brain development, mental disability from lead poisoning, and eventually cancer. Acute or chronic exposure to toxic e-waste can be fatal. The environmental impacts are also disastrous with toxic metals flowing into the land and the nearby river, which has died. Rain washes toxic chemicals into ponds where livestock graze.

Negative human and environmental impacts, a result of informal recycling, are a direct consequence of the lack of Ghanaian government intervention. Ghana’s authorities have proposed the demolition of Agbogbloshie several times, and early operations in this direction have began in June 2015. However, the planned closure would solve the problem, but simply move it elsewhere, as also locals organizations object. The situation is even more complicated since, in absence of decent work in Accra, the Agbogbloshie site alone provides livelihood opportunities and quick cash business to approximately 4,500 – 6,000 informal workers and perhaps for another 1,500 indirectly. [1][3] 2019 reports even speak of 10,000 informal recyclers, including many recently arrived migrants from Niger, Mali or Ivory Coast [11].

Despite the outlined hazardous conditions and devastating environmental impacts of the e-waste dump, the recycling activities also provide valuable services that receive only little recognition, as also researcher Alison Stowell from Lancaster University points out. They are strongly entrepreneurship-driven, come with high skills in dismantling and repair, and follow a clear hierarchical logic in treating the different waste streams, to make the most out of the resources with limited means. The community of Agbogbloshie provides a number of services that support informal recycling, including the manufacturing of protective clothing. As the researcher argues, the provision of better facilities and a safer environment for e-waste recyclers would allow them to make a livelihood and harness their existing skills and knowledge in recycling, instead of simply moving pollution elsewhere. [10]

Also the organization WIEGO, which has been supporting the community in Agbogbloshie and other informal workers in Accra, has stressed the need for more recognition for waste pickers and informal recyclers. [10] Some recently launched projects that aim to valorize and support the recycling activities include the Agbobloshie Makerspace Place Project, which offers a space to the community to exchange knowledge and skills and design and market products. Support also came from the German Development Agency (GIZ) which in 2017 funded new e-waste recycling facilities, training, and a hospital. [4][10][11]

While Ghana does have a demand for second hand electronic equipment, 75% of electronics that arrive in Ghana are broken. Dealers in Accra buy the metals from between 20 and 90 cents a pound. E-recyclers earn between $6 and 10/day.

E-waste recyclers, including children, salvage copper, aluminium and other metals from electronic equipment like computers and televisions, either illegally dumped or legally exported in the form of second hand electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) from the UK, US and EU. A 2011 BBC panorama investigation found that 100 000 tonnes of e-waste is leaked out of the UK every year and 77% of e-waste from England and Wales ends in primarily in Ghana and Nigeria.

The German government announced in March 2017 a 20 million euro (US$ 21.5 million) project it says will transform the electronic waste processing system in Accra. It calls for the building of an e-waste recycling facility where materials can be brought and sold and processed safely to the benefit of the local community. [4]