ACCRA, 5th of June 2025 – Recycling matters! Not only for industries, but for all of us. Many materials require well controlled processes to be recycled safely. Otherwise, recycling can cause serious impacts on human health and the environment.
The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) launched its “Sustainable Recycling Industries” (in short: SRI) programme in 2015 to cooperate with Ghana in upgrading its e-waste recycling landscape. The goal: to create green jobs, establish sound recycling systems, and reduce pollution from electrical and electronic products. Now, after nearly a decade of intensive cooperation, the SRI programme is concluding with a final event in Accra under the title: “Growing Big – Making Responsible E-Waste Management the Norm in Ghana.”
Today we are not just closing a successful project, but also celebrating a lasting commitment to sustainable e-waste recycling in Ghana.
Setting National Standards for E-Waste Recycling
To drive real change towards better management practices, the SRI programme combined analytical approaches with training, standard development, conformity assessment, business model development and policy support. One of its key achievements was supporting the development of the ‘Technical Guidelines on Environmentally Sound Management of E-waste in Ghana’. According to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), “these are major milestones to implement practical recycling standards for all relevant target groups such as collectors, transporters and recyclers. Today, conformity with these guidelines is mandatory for the environmental permitting of undertakings in the e-waste sector under Ghana’s legal framework.”
Tackling Priority Waste Streams: Lead-Acid Batteries and Tyres
In its second phase, the SRI programme, in cooperation with national authorities, prioritised waste streams that have been of particular concern to the country, namely used car tyres and lead-acid batteries.
“We really want to highlight the activities around the improvement of recycling standards for used lead-acid batteries,” says Mrs. Lydia Essuah, responsible director of policy planning, monitoring and evaluation from the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST). “During the second phase of the SRI programme, a set of 37 sector-specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) was developed, clearly explaining how batteries should be handled during the recycling process to prevent highly hazardous lead exposure for workers and neighbouring communities. The policy briefs resulting from the project will be taken into account in the development of a national e-waste policy”. Today, these SOPs are crucial instruments for both industry guidance and government audits. They turned out to be a game changer for conformity assessments with high environmental recycling standards of lead-acid battery recycling facilities, not only in Ghana but also in Nigeria and Tanzania.
During the second phase of the SRI programme, a set of 37 sector-specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) was developed, clearly explaining how batteries should be handled during the recycling process to prevent highly hazardous lead exposure for workers and neighbouring communities. The policy briefs resulting from the project will be taken into account in the development of a national e-waste policy.
Supporting Recycling Businesses and Promoting Inclusion
SRI also provided practical support to companies. “SRI supported us in establishing a new recycling line for waste tyres” says Mrs. Betty Brown General Manager of Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP). “In many areas of Ghana, waste tyres have been openly burned, causing massive pollution. They can now be turned into useful products such as tiles in our facility.” For tyres that cannot be reused or recycled, SRI helped find alternative disposal methods. After a successful assessment of a cement plant in Buipe, the company can now use waste tyres as a substitute for fossil coal in their production process.
SRI supported us in establishing a new recycling line for waste tyres… In many areas of Ghana, waste tyres have been openly burned, causing massive pollution. They can now be turned into useful products such as tiles in our facility.
Other notable achievements include piloting e-waste plastic sorting and recycling with ERG Ltd Ghana and assessing the recycling of PV panels in Ghana with all relevant stakeholders.
Finally, SRI also supported the most vulnerable groups in the recycling chain, such as subsistent e-waste pickers. “SRI allowed us to organise ourselves as an official association” says Prince Ali Baba from the Secretary of the Eastern Region Scrap Dealers Association in Koforidua. “We were supported to set up our own constitution and to the final registration as association”.
A Legacy of Systemic Impact
“SRI worked on countless pieces of a big puzzle” says Dr. Sampson Atiemo, local project coordinator and director of Mountain Research Institute (MRI), “but after ten years of intensive support in terms of policies, conformity, businesses and hazardous waste streams, we can see the big picture now, showing how the programme made a real change in Ghana’s recycling environment”.
The lessons and recommendations from the programme are now captured in the final policy brief, titled “Growing Big – Making Responsible E-Waste Management the Norm in Ghana.” It outlines the way forward for policy-makers, recyclers, and international partners to sustain and scale up the progress made.
After almost 10 years of impactful cooperation, the SRI programme will officially concluded on June 4th 2025, with a closing ceremony in Accra attended by the Swiss Ambassador, H.E Simone Giger, Minister for Environment Science and Technology – Hon. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, the representative of the CEO of Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) – Professor Nana Ama Browne Klutse in addition to more than 70 other stakeholders
SRI laid a strong foundation for a circular economy in Ghana, and the country can become a leader in sound e-waste management in the region and in Africa at large.
About SRI
The Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) programme contributes to the development of a sustainable recycling industry for e-waste and related waste streams in developing countries. Through recycling initiatives in Colombia, Peru, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa, SRI is building capacity for sustainable e-waste management by supporting national activities and implementing pilot projects. In 2023, activities in Colombia and Peru were concluded. Activities in Egypt, Ghana and South Africa are being concluded in 2025. SRI is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).