Partnership to tackle phone recycling in Ghana

Africa – Vodafone Ghana and e-scrap recycling firm Recell Ghana have launched an initiative to significantly boost domestic collection and treatment of discarded mobile phones.

The phone recycling project will afford handset users the opportunity to properly dispose of their devices and batteries at Vodafone shops across Ghana. The collected units will be picked up and handled by Recell ‘in a responsible and environmentally-friendly manner’, it is underlined. The partnership with Vodaphone will likely result in an annual increase in exports as a portion of the post-consumer phones will be shipped to third parties for recycling overseas.

Set up in 2012, Recell Ghana is certified by the nation’s Environmental Protection Agency and is committed to boosting e-cycling practices in a country where the Agbogbloshie slums still count as one of the largest ‘digital dumping grounds’ in the world.

For a closer look at the work of the area’s so-called ‘scrap metal men’, click here for the eponymous documentary.