Trash or Treasure? The Fragility of Accra's Informal E-Waste Sector
(2025) UTVK03 20251Sociology
- Abstract
- E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams today and considered a significant developmental challenge with less than 30% of e-waste being formally recycled. High-income countries are at an increasing rate exporting their hazardous waste onto low- and middle-income countries, creating additional pressure, exacerbating health risks, and degrading local environments in countries with less capacity to safely manage it. Ghana is one such recipient country, where the informal sector employs approximately 200,000 people. Employing a theoretical framework which combines Sen’s freedom as development concept and Thomposon’s rubbish theory, the purpose of this study is to contribute to a greater understanding of e-waste and e-waste... (More)
- E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams today and considered a significant developmental challenge with less than 30% of e-waste being formally recycled. High-income countries are at an increasing rate exporting their hazardous waste onto low- and middle-income countries, creating additional pressure, exacerbating health risks, and degrading local environments in countries with less capacity to safely manage it. Ghana is one such recipient country, where the informal sector employs approximately 200,000 people. Employing a theoretical framework which combines Sen’s freedom as development concept and Thomposon’s rubbish theory, the purpose of this study is to contribute to a greater understanding of e-waste and e-waste informality in the context of Accra. This qualitative research uses a mix of primary and secondary sources to enable an analysis of the varying framings of e-waste in the global, national, and local lenses and relating these framings to the experiences and perceptions of the informal e-waste sector in Accra. I find that some of the most prominent framings of e-waste in Accra are in contrast to one another, which creates fragility within the informal e-waste sector. As a source of livelihood and income, e-waste can be conducive to enhanced capabilities, but these capabilities are vulnerable to both state intervention and the significant health risks associated with e-waste. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9193457
- author
- Bjøru, Sara LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- UTVK03 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- e-waste, informality, waste trade, poverty, circularity, Ghana
- language
- English
- id
- 9193457
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-19 15:23:11
- date last changed
- 2025-07-01 03:43:11
@misc{9193457,
abstract = {{E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams today and considered a significant developmental challenge with less than 30% of e-waste being formally recycled. High-income countries are at an increasing rate exporting their hazardous waste onto low- and middle-income countries, creating additional pressure, exacerbating health risks, and degrading local environments in countries with less capacity to safely manage it. Ghana is one such recipient country, where the informal sector employs approximately 200,000 people. Employing a theoretical framework which combines Sen’s freedom as development concept and Thomposon’s rubbish theory, the purpose of this study is to contribute to a greater understanding of e-waste and e-waste informality in the context of Accra. This qualitative research uses a mix of primary and secondary sources to enable an analysis of the varying framings of e-waste in the global, national, and local lenses and relating these framings to the experiences and perceptions of the informal e-waste sector in Accra. I find that some of the most prominent framings of e-waste in Accra are in contrast to one another, which creates fragility within the informal e-waste sector. As a source of livelihood and income, e-waste can be conducive to enhanced capabilities, but these capabilities are vulnerable to both state intervention and the significant health risks associated with e-waste.}},
author = {{Bjøru, Sara}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Trash or Treasure? The Fragility of Accra's Informal E-Waste Sector}},
year = {{2025}},
}