Central Queensland University, 120 Spencer Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2023 Jul;252:114192. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114192. Epub 2023 Jun 20.
Globally, e-waste is the fastest growing and most valuable waste-stream. While countries worldwide are increasingly acknowledging the e-waste problem and introducing policies and regulations that deal with e-waste, large quantities of e-waste still go undocumented. Much of these global e-wastes are accumulating in open-dumpsites and landfills in African-countries where they are recycled informally resulting in significant environmental and public-health concerns. Although, there is a plethora of studies on e-waste management and disposal, only a few-studies have focused on African-countries who are major recipients of e-waste. Moreover, despite the attempts to mitigate the problem of e-waste in African-countries, e-waste has remained a major-concern and there are currently very limited workable solutions. This study examines informal e-waste recycling, environmental pollution and the extent of environmental and health impacts in major countries of concern including Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. The global e-waste Waste Atlas Report, 2020 identified these countries as major recipients of e-waste. To achieve the aims of this research, previous studies from 2005 to 2022 are collected from various databases and analyzed. Accordingly, this study focuses on environmental pollution and public-health impacts resulting from e-waste dumping and informal recycling practices, illegal transboundary shipment of e-waste to the selected countries, and the interventions of governments and international organizations in reducing the impact of e-waste pollution and informal recycling practices in Africa. Based on the outcomes of this study, practical approaches on the way-forward are recommended. The findings of this study contribute to a growing-body of research on informal e-waste recycling practices in Africa to document that individuals working within e-waste sites and residents in nearby communities are exposed to a number of toxic-substances, some at potentially concerning levels.
在全球范围内，电子垃圾是增长最快、最有价值的垃圾。尽管世界各国越来越认识到电子垃圾问题，并出台了相关政策法规来处理电子垃圾，但仍有大量电子垃圾未被记录在案。这些全球电子垃圾的大部分都堆积在非洲国家的露天垃圾场和垃圾填埋场，在那里它们未经正式回收，造成了严重的环境和公共卫生问题。尽管有大量关于电子垃圾管理和处置的研究，但只有少数研究关注的是主要接收电子垃圾的非洲国家。此外，尽管非洲国家试图缓解电子垃圾问题，但电子垃圾仍然是一个主要问题，目前可行的解决方案非常有限。本研究考察了主要关注的国家（加纳、尼日利亚、埃及、肯尼亚和南非）的非正式电子垃圾回收、环境污染以及环境和健康影响的程度。2020 年全球电子垃圾废物地图集报告将这些国家确定为主要的电子垃圾接收国。为了实现本研究的目标，从 2005 年到 2022 年，从各种数据库中收集了以前的研究并进行了分析。因此，本研究重点关注电子垃圾倾倒和非正式回收做法造成的环境污染和公共健康影响、电子垃圾非法越境运往选定国家、以及政府和国际组织为减少非洲电子垃圾污染和非正式回收做法的影响而采取的干预措施。基于本研究的结果，推荐了一些实际的前进方法。本研究的结果有助于丰富非洲非正式电子垃圾回收实践的研究，证明在电子垃圾场工作的个人和附近社区的居民接触到了许多有毒物质，有些物质的含量可能令人担忧。
