Atlantic Recycling International Systems is a privately owned Limited Liability Company duly registered under the Company Act of Ghana. Atlantic Recycling’s area of business is to train, collect, recycle, and market E-waste from businesses, household and landfills at their recycling facility located in Atlantic Phone Building, Clerk street, Osu in Accra, Ghana. The company recycles information communication technology (ICT) products and small electronic devices such as phones, tablets etc.
The company was started in 2013 and employed six people by the end of 2019.
The company deployed a model known as Ghana E-Waste Model (GEMOD) whose objective is to develop a sustainable national e-waste management system which makes e-waste re-usable to minimize environmental pollution. GEMOD is an innovation of the Ghana National Cleaner Production Centre and the Environmental Protection Agency with financial support from the European Union and technical support from SWITCH Africa Green programme.
The innovation was to establish a structured approach to e-waste management through education and publicity, collection, refurbishment, dismantling and sorting, as well as safe disposal of hazardous components. Further, it was expected to export recyclables in order to provide a solution to the negative tag of unsustainable e-waste management in Ghana. In doing this, GEMOD provides an avenue for various institutions, businesses, and individuals to dispose of their mounting stock of electronic waste in an environmentally sustainable manner.
GEMOD also supported the development of a web or mobile application which connects generators of e-waste with collectors. The application enables e-waste generators to place items they want to be collected on the platform and allows interested buyers to negotiate for the prices of the items and plan for delivery and collection.
“The training has made them understand and appreciate the fact that waste is no longer a waste as we see it; its rather a resource,” says Gilbert Odjidja, the Executive Director of Atlantic Phones and Recycling Ltd. “It has informed a lot of people on the possibility of getting a resource out of waste, especially e-waste. Without green (policies) the generation after us is going to suffer”
The results of this intervention touch on different facets and pillars. Environmentally, there was an extension of product life cycle through refurbishment which results to waste minimization. Components from damaged appliances were recovered for secondary use, leading to diversion of waste from landfills. Additionally, there was no disposal of plastic components as a result of their recycling and reuse.
The company has been able to halve the purchasing cost of new components, while adding product stream sale through plastics and recovered components. Additionally, there has been an improvement in the quality of products due to elimination of contamination during dismantling which has culminated into better retail prices. Atlantic International has eliminated the cost of shipping for certain products due to identification and matching in the local market. The company established both sustainable e-waste training, and dismantling and collection centres. It trained various e-waste management associations in Accra with 240 artisans being trained on sustainable dismantling of e-waste.
The company has also managed to improve the working conditions for workers due to the elimination of risk in the workplace. It has improved incomes for its employees, its own image and gotten access to niche market due to sustainable consumption and production practices. The enterprise has also been able to build the capacity skill acquisition for workers while improving visibility leading to public recognition and appraisal.
