E-waste management in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review

Figures & data

Table 1. Iterative search for article selection

	1^st search	2^nd search	3^rd search	Final search
Francis and Taylor*	90435	211	103	3
Science Direct**	3603	668	52	2
Springer*	2800	185	140	3
Sage*	26330	120	34	7
EBSCO	27692	68	59	8
Sabinet	698	261	12	2
Total	151 558	1 513	400	25

*Database under Web of Science Group

**Database under Web of Science Group and SCOPUS

Figure 1. Article selection process.

Figure 2. Themes, topics and countries covered in the research articles.

Figure 3. Selected articles by country.

Figure 4. Distribution of papers by thematic area.

Table

No.	Database	Journal	Author/(s)	Title of Paper	Country
1	EBSCO	Journal of Global Information Technology Management	Nwagwu and Okuneye (2016)	Awareness and Attitudes of Small-Scale Information Technology Business Operators in Lagos, Nigeria Toward E-Waste Hazards	Nigeria
2	EBSCO	Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies	Lambrechts, 2016	Environmental Organised Crime: The Dirty Business of Hazardous Waste Disposal and Limited State Capacity in Africa	Africa in general
3	EBSCO	Polish Journal of Environmental Studies	Olafisoye et al. (2013)	Heavy Metals Contamination of Water, Soil, and Plants around an Electronic Waste Dumpsite	Nigeria
4	EBSCO	Chemosphere	Srigboh et al. (2016)	Multiple elemental exposures amongst workers at the Agbogbloshie electronic waste (e-waste) site in Ghana	Ghana
5	EBSCO	International Journal of Environmental Health Research	Agyei-Mensah and Oteng-Ababio (2012)	Perceptions of health and environmental impacts of e-waste management in Ghana	Ghana
6	EBSCO	Environmental Health & Toxicology	Kyere et al. (2017)	Spatial assessment of potential ecological risk of heavy metals in soils from informal e-waste recycling in Ghana	Ghana
7	SABINET	African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation & Development	Okorhi et al. (2019)	Disconnect between policy and practice in developing countries: Evidence of managing e-waste from Nigeria	Nigeria
8	SABINET	African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation & Development	Machete (2017)	Environmental health risks associated with e-waste exposure in Badplaas, Carolina and Elukwatini landfills, Republic of South Africa	South Africa
9	EBSCO	New African	Boaten (2011)	Ghana burns its health away	Ghana
10	EBSCO	Africa Today	Grant and Oteng-Ababio (2016)	The Global Transformation of Materials and the Emergence of Informal Urban Mining in Accra, Ghana	Ghana
11	TAYLOR AND FRANCIS	International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology	Umesi and Onyia (2008)	Disposal of e-wastes in Nigeria: an appraisal of regulations and current practices	Nigeria
12	TAYLOR AND FRANCIS	Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association	Mmereki et al. (2015)	Waste electrical and electronic equipment management in Botswana: Prospects and challenges	Botswana
13	TAYLOR AND FRANCIS	Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry	Nnorom and Osibanjo (2011)	Determination of metals in printed wiring boards of waste mobile phones	Nigeria
14	SAGE	Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy	Lawhon (2013)	Dumping Ground or Country-in-Transition? Discourses of E-Waste in South Africa	South Africa
15	SAGE	The Journal of Environment & Development	Oteng-Ababio et al. (2020)	Building Policy Coherence for Sound Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Management in a Developing Country	Ghana
16	SAGE	Science, Technology and Society	Bob et al. (2017)	Enhancing Innovation and Technological Capabilities in the Management of E-Waste: Case Study of South African Government Sector	South Africa
17	SAGE	Global Health Promotion	Yu et al. (2017)	Informal processing of electronic waste at Agbogbloshie, Ghana: workers’ knowledge about associated health hazards and alternative livelihoods	Ghana
18	SAGE	Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting	Acquah et al. (2019)	Processes and challenges associated with informal electronic waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana	Ghana
19	SAGE	Global Health Promotion	Tetteh and Lengel (2017)	The urgent need for health impact assessment: proposing a transdisciplinary approach to the e-waste crisis in sub-Saharan Africa	Africa in general
20	SAGE	Waste Management & Research	Ghosh et al. (2016)	Waste electrical and electronic equipment management and Basel Convention compliance in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations	Africa in general
21	SPRINGER	Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology	Burns et al. (2019)	Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana	Ghana
22	SPRINGER	Modeling Earth Systems and Environment	Peluola (2016)	Investigation of the implementation and effectiveness of electronic waste management in Nigeria	Nigeria
23	SPRINGER	Environmental Science and Pollution Research	Isimekhai et al. (2017)	Heavy metals distribution and risk assessment in soil from an informal E-waste recycling site in Lagos State, Nigeria	Nigeria
24	SCIENCE DIRECT	Heliyon	Adanu et al. (2020)	Challenges of adopting sustainable technologies in e-waste management at Agbogbloshie, Ghana	Ghana
25	SCIENCE DIRECT	Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences	Jibiri et al. (2014)	Assessment of radiation exposure levels at Alaba e-waste dumpsite in comparison with municipal waste dumpsites in southwest Nigeria	Nigeria

Nwagwu, W., & Okuneye, M. (2016). Awareness and attitudes of small-scale information technology business operators in Lagos, Nigeria toward e-waste hazards. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 19(4), 267–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/1097198X.2016.1246934

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Lambrechts, D. (2016). Environmental crime in Sub-Saharan Africa – A review and future challenges. Politikon, 43(2), 155–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2016.1213692

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Olafisoye, O. B., Adefioye, T., & Osibote, O. A. (2013). Heavy metals contamination of water, soil, and plants around an electronic waste dumpsite. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 22(5), 1431–1439. http://www.pjoes.com/Heavy-Metals-Contamination-of-Water-Soil-r-nand-Plants-around-an-Electronic-Waste,89108,0,2.html

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Srigboh, R. K., Basu, N., Stephens, J., Asampong, E., Perkins, M., Neitzel, R. L., & Fobil, J. (2016). Multiple elemental exposures amongst workers at the Agbogbloshie electronic waste (e-waste) site in Ghana. Chemosphere, 164 (December), 68–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.08.089

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Agyei-Mensah, S., & Oteng-Ababio, M. (2012). Perceptions of health and environmental impacts of e-waste management in Ghana. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 22(6), 500–517. https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2012.667795

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Kyere, V. N., Greve, K., Atiemo, S. M., & Ephraim, J. (2017). Spatial assessment of potential ecological risk of heavy metals in soils from informal e-waste recycling in Ghana. Environmental Health and Toxicology, 32(4), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.5620/eht.e2017018

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Okorhi, J. O., Amadi-Echendu, J. E., Aderemi, H. O., Uhunmwangho, R., & Okwubunne, A. C. (2019). Disconnect between policy and practice in developing countries: Evidence of managing e-waste from Nigeria. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 11(4), 523–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2017.1385134

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Machete, F. (2017). Environmental health risks associated with e-waste exposure in Badplaas, Carolina and Elukwatini landfills, Republic of South Africa. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 9(6), 679–684. https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2017.1355602

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Boaten, O. (2011). Ghana burns its health away. New African, 506 (May 2011), 62–65. https://newafricanmagazine.com/2799/#:~:text=But%20their%20health%20is%20sure,they%20are%20set%20on%20fire.

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Grant, R. J., & Oteng-Ababio, M. (2016). The global transformation of materials and the emergence of informal urban mining in Accra, Ghana. Africa Today, 62(4), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.62.4.01

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Umesi, N. O., & Onyia, S. (2008). Disposal of e-wastes in Nigeria: An appraisal of regulations and current practices. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 15(6), 565–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504500809469852

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Mmereki, D., Li, B., & Li’ao, W. (2015). Waste electrical and electronic equipment management in Botswana: Prospects and challenges. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 65(1), 11–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2014.892544

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Nnorom, I. C., & Osibanjo, O. (2011). Determination of metals in printed wiring boards of waste mobile phones. Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry, 93(8), 1557–1571. https://doi.org/10.1080/02772248.2011.593519

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Lawhon, M. (2013). Dumping ground or country-in-transition? Discourses of e-Waste in South Africa. Environment and Planning. C, Government & Policy, 31(4), 700–715. https://doi.org/10.1068/c1254

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Oteng-Ababio, M., van der Velden, M., & Taylor, M. B. (2020). Building policy coherence for sound waste electrical and electronic equipment management in a developing country. The Journal of Environment and Development, 29(3), 306-328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1070496519898218

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Bob, U., Padayachee, A., Gordon, M., & Moutlana, I. (2017). Enhancing innovation and technological capabilities in the management of e-waste: Case study of South African government sector. Science, Technology and Society, 22(2), 332–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971721817702293

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Yu, E. A., Akormedi, M., Asampong, E., Meyer, C. G., & Fobil, J. N. (2017). Informal processing of electronic waste at Agbogbloshie, Ghana: Workers’ knowledge about associated health hazards and alternative livelihoods. Global Health Promotion, 24(4), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975916631523

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Acquah, A. A., D’Souza, C., Martin, B., Arko-Mensah, J., Nti, A. A., Kwarteng, L., Takyi, S., Quakyi, I. A., Robins, T. G., & Fobil, J. N. (2019). Processes and challenges associated with informal electronic waste recycling at Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 63(1), 938–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1071181319631219

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Tetteh, D., & Lengel, L. (2017). The urgent need for health impact assessment: Proposing a transdisciplinary approach to the e-waste crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Global Health Promotion, 24(2), 35–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975916686926

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Ghosh, S. K., Debnath, B., Baidya, R., De, D., Li, J., Ghosh, S. K., Zheng, L., Awasthi, A. K., Liubarskaia, M. A., Ogola, J. S., & Tavares, A. N. (2016). Waste electrical and electronic equipment management and Basel Convention compliance in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations. Waste Management & Research, 34(8), 693–707. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X16652956

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Burns, K. N., Sayler, S. K., & Neitzel, R. L. (2019). Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 14(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12995-018-0222-9

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Peluola, A. (2016). Investigation of the implementation and effectiveness ofelectronic waste management in Nigeria. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2(2), 100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-016-0155-1

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Isimekhai, K. A., Garelick, H., Watt, J., & Purchase, D. (2017). Heavy metals distribution and risk assessment in soil from an informal E-waste recycling site in Lagos State, Nigeria. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24(20), 17206–17219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8877-9

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Adanu, S., Gbedemah, F., & Attah, K. (2020). Challenges of adopting sustainable technologies in e-waste management at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Heliyon, 6(8), e04548. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04548

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Jibiri, N., Isinkaye, M., & Momoh, H. (2014). Assessment of radiation exposure levels at Alaba e-waste dumpsite in comparison with municipal waste dumpsites in southwest Nigeria. Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 7(4), 536–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrras.2014.09.002

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