Perceptions of health and environmental impacts of e-waste management in Ghana

Abstract

This paper explores the perception of health and environmental concerns of workers and residents living close to e-waste recycling sites in Ghana using both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The social constructionist approach and a logit regression model were adopted to examine the rationale of their claims and concerns which have hitherto been unknown and unexplored. We find that workers’ environmental and health perceptions were seriously downplayed and do not match those of epidemiological studies, revealing a lack of convergence between lay and expert knowledge. This study further shows a respondent-specificity rationale; the perception of those directly involved in the processes was mainly influenced by economic considerations, while some at bestdisplayed “genuine” ignorance. We recommend that all policy interventions incorporate approaches that have a better chance of arriving at conclusions economically meaningful to participants and that facilitate greater understanding of health and environmental issues.

Keywords:

• E-waste recycling
• risk perception
• environmental health
• poverty
• Ghana