We don’t have the capacity to recycle second-hand appliances – Energy Commission
The decision to ban the importation of second-hand electrical appliances, popularly known as ‘home use’, is to save the public from carbon emissions, the Energy Commission has said.
It says the move is from the realization that the country was gradually becoming a dumping site for electronic waste.
Assistant Manager in charge of Energy Efficiency Inspection and Enforcement at the Energy Commission, Hubert Nsoh Zan, told Jonnie Hughes on 3FMSunrise on Tuesday that many local dealers brought in obsolete products, while others brought in new but sub-standard electrical appliances.
“Unfortunately”, according to Mr Zan “we do not have the capacity… the more reason why we can not keep on allowing these used, obsolete appliances to come into the country. He wondered why a dealer would “bring in an item that is meant for recycling in Europe to Ghana only because you want to salvage some of its components”.
He also encouraged relevant agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to, in line with their mandates, deploy mechanisms to handle the end-of-product life of appliances already in the country.
He however maintains that importers should also be responsible for the kind of appliances they bring into the country.
Here’s a list of appliances banned from entering Ghana:
- Clothes Washing Machines
- Industrial Fans
- Rice Cookers
- Computers
- Set-Top Boxes
- Ventilating Fans
- Solar Panels
- Microwave Ovens
- Storage Water Heaters
- Renewable Energy Batteries
- Public Lighting
- Improved Biomass Cookstoves
- Television Sets
- Electric Motors
- Electric Kettles
- Air Conditioners
- Distribution Transformers
- Comfort Fans