Executive member of the Technician Association of Electrical and Electronics Equipment Ghana (TAEEEG), Mr. Jeffrey Adongo has called on the general public to make it a priority in joining hands to fight indiscriminate disposal of e-waste.

According to him, the indiscriminate disposal of e-waste into the environment has been causing very harmful effects on the lives of innocent Ghanaians, which should be a matter of concern to everyone.

He said it was very unfortunate that the contaminations in the air usually occurred when e-waste materials are disposed off in the wrong manner.

Touching on the wrong disposal ways it can affect us, he said burning them wrongfully in the wrong setting, throwing them into inappropriate places, etc.

He said people sometimes burn these materials in unapproved places causing damage to the respiratory systems of both humans and animals.

Further touching on air pollution the activities usually causes, Mr. Adongo said air pollution had destroyed the environment over the years causing damage to water bodies, plants, and soil which in turn affect the ecosystem, etc.

Apart from that, Mr. Adongo said others throw these materials into places where it affects land fertility.

He said this during a two-day sensatisation programme for some selected electronics and electrical technicians in Akyawkrom within the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti region. The two-day program which was meant to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge about how to identify valuable components of electronic waste materials and separate them was also meant to educate them on the dangers associated with indiscriminate disposal of these e-wastes.

According to Mr. Adongo, there were valuable components that could be extracted from electronic waste materials such as computers, TV sets, refrigerators, printers, air conditioners, etc.

He further revealed that valuable treasuries such as gold and silver were often removed from highly integrated electronics, but needed to be done in a decorum manner that could not release harmful exhalation into the environment.

Mr. Adongo, therefore, advised electrical, and electronic technicians and the general public to be vigilant when disposing off malfunctioned items or selling them to scrap dealers. He said this is because our ways of disposing them or selling them to inexperienced and careless scrap dealers could further cause harm to the lives of others.

Some beneficiary technicians who spoke to this reporter after the program thanked the organisers and appealed for more of such sensitisation programs. They however pledged their commitment to putting into practice what they've learnt and assured to extend the newly acquired knowledge to the rest of the general public.

"We've learnt something about the spoilt electronic gadgets we use at home like TV, laptops, fridges, etc and how to deal with them. We sometimes throw them away wrongfully. The training has enlightened us to know that there are certain things we throw into the land that does not help us," they revealed.

Aside from that, the beneficiaries revealed that they had been made to understand that there are some valuable components that could be sold in a branded manner but people threw them away out of ignorance.

"We've also realized that there is some gold etc inside some of those things we throw away. Now we understand that spoilt items like phones, TV, etc need not to be thrown away anyhow," one of them revealed.