Envirocom that is of the UK’s largest recycling companies has imported thousands of banned second-hand fridges into Ghana, according to the west African country’s energy regulator reports the Guardian.
The paper reports that thousands of fridges discarded by households have been shipped to Ghana by Environcom, which describes itself as the UK’s largest electrical re-use and recycling company, flouting rules designed to protect the country’s environment against harmful chemicals, according to the authorities in Ghana.
“Environcom have sent a shipment of about 37 containers, almost 4,000 second-hand fridges to Ghana,” Victor Owusu, public affairs spokesman for Ghana’s energy commission told The Guardian.
Environcom has links to British retailers Dixons (who we are led to believe own the company or a good portion of it) and Argos, which supply used appliances to the company for recycling.
Envirocom admitted exporting the fridges to Ghana but said it did so before the ban came into place.
“Environcom stopped exporting fridges to Ghana some months ago in line with the introduction of the ban, however some containers that left us on time got delayed in transit and arrived in Ghana late and containers that were received prior to the ban were also impounded,” said a spokesperson for Envirocom.
The Guardian states that it has seen documents which show the fridges were shipped from Britain to Ghana in August this year, almost two months after the ban came into force. Environcom says it sells second-hand fridges to third parties to ship to Ghana, and that it could not be held responsible for delays during the process.
The Guardian also alleges to have seen an email exchange between Environcom and the Ghanaian authorities in which the company threatened to withdraw plans to invest in a recycling plant in the country if it was not allowed to import parts from second-hand fridges.
“Environcom have been working on a multimillion GBP investment in Ghana … Your latest feedback has led us to question whether we withdraw from this project and look at alternative markets within west Africa,” wrote Graeme Parkin from Environcom, in an email dated 21 June.
Environcom says it had been seeking to clarify the law in Ghana and was now working on a new agreement to invest in recycling facilities in the country.
Second-hand fridges have been banned in Ghana since 1 January 2013, after officials became concerned about the number of old electrical products no longer wanted by UK households which were ending up in the country.
Ghanaian officials say numerous British companies are still importing second-hand fridges to Ghana in violation of the ban. “Since the ban came into force, we have made about 177 seizures of second-hand fridges,” Mr Owusu has told the paper. “Most of those have come from the UK – over 90% of the imports are coming from there. They know about the regulations, but they are errant companies that want to defy the law.”
Environcom said discussions with the Ghanaian authorities about its impounded fridges were continuing. But Ghanaian officials said the shipment would be destroyed, and accused Britain of being the main exporter of unlawful second-hand electrical goods to the country.
“We are also determined that this ban of second-hand fridges into Ghana becomes a success story,” said Owusu. “Now that energy is becoming so critical, who would allow their country to become a dumping ground for used refrigerators from the rest of the world?”
Environcom has come under the spotlight for sending second-hand electrical goods to Africa in the past.
Earlier this year company director Sean Feeney, a former senior Dixons executive, admitted Environcom had exported old-fashioned cathode-ray tube TVs to Africa when they became “hazardous” products, which could not be safely disposed of.
“In the past unscrupulous companies have used west Africa as a dumping ground,” the Environcom spokesperson said. “In fact, when the new management came on board, Environcom stopped exporting refurbished TVs to Africa for many years because of the difficulties in controlling the end results and the impact on the local environment.”
Ghana said it would be making an official complaint to the British government.
“We are going to file a complaint to the EU, and to the British high commission,” Mr Owusu said. “I know that in the UK itself this kind of thing would not happen. I think they think it’s Africa, so they can get away with it.”
This is not a particularly new phenomena with companies in the USA also being discovered to be sending toxic WEEE to third world countries such as China and other Asian countries despite the practice having been outlawed.