The decision to ban the importation of second-hand electrical appliances, popularly known as ‘home use’, is to save the public from carbon emissions, the Energy Commission has said.
It says the move is from the realization that the country was gradually becoming a dumping site for electronic waste.
Assistant Manager in charge of Energy Efficiency Inspection and Enforcement at the Energy Commission, Hubert Nsoh Zan, told Jonnie Hughes on #3FMSunrise on Tuesday that many local dealers brought in obsolete products, while others brought in new but sub-standard electrical appliances.
“Unfortunately”, according to Mr Zan “we do not have the capacity… the more reason why we can not keep on allowing these used, obsolete appliances to come into the country. He wondered why a dealer would “bring in an item that is meant for recycling in Europe to Ghana only because you want to salvage some of it’s components”.
He also encouraged relevant agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to, in line with their mandates, deploy mechanisms to handle end-of-product life of appliances already in the country.
He however maintains that importers should also be responsible for the kind of appliances they bring into the country.
Here’s a list of appliances banned from entering Ghana:
Clothes Washing Machines
Industrial Fans
Rice Cookers
Computers
Set-Top Boxes
Ventilating Fans
Solar Panels
Microwave Ovens
Storage Water Heaters
Renewable Energy Batteries
Public Lighting
Improved Biomass Cookstoves
Television Sets
Electric Motors
Electric Kettles
Air Conditioners
Distribution Transformers
Comfort Fans