TV sets for poor households in Ghana

Nana Konadu is a creative man. The Ghanaian entrepreneur grew up in Bremen and commutes between Germany and Ghana. His mission is to fundamentally change the reputation of digital-waste recycling, which is known for serious environmental hazards and brutal labour conditions.

Konadu runs two companies in Accra. One is called Technology Manufacturing Ghana or TMG for short. It produces small TV sets that include second-hand computer screens. The screens are fit onto plastic cases with digital boards that Konadu imports from China. TMG became fully operational in 2023 and has produced some 14,000 TV sets in the past two years, Konadu reports. 

TMG’s SlimTVs have scope for more than 200 TV and radio channels. The gadgets are quite cheap, costing the equivalent of around € 25. They are also quite robust, so TMG can offer buyers a one-year guarantee. So far, TMG has had only very few reclamations, the entrepreneur says. 

He is confident that he could export the upcycled devices to any low or lower middle-income country, even as far away as Pakistan, but he adds that he sees enough demand for his goods in Ghana at this stage. TMG also rehabilitates used smartphones, wiping all data from the devices and refurbishing the hardware.

TMG’s sister company is Electronic Recycling Ghana (ERG). It salvages usable parts from discarded digital devices and sorts the waste materials for recycling purposes. Konadu has a German partner who supplies ERG with discarded digital equipment from Germany. 

Registered companies competing with informal businesses

Both TMG and ERG are registered. They must comply with regulations regarding both labour rights and environmental protection. That sets the two companies from the informal recycling industry, which in theory is supposed to comply with laws too, but in practise generally avoids doing so. Law enforcement is very difficult in informal settings because neither operations nor transactions are documented. It can be very difficult to establish who exactly is responsible for any inappropriate or illegal action.

African informal waste recycling has a poor reputation. That is particularly true of digital waste. The main reason is that informal recyclers focus on maximising the extraction of the most valuable substances, such as copper or precious metals. Once that is done, they burn or dump what they consider worthless. The smoke is hazardous because of various toxic chemicals. Those chemicals also leak from unburned garbage, contaminating water and soils. Many workers are brutally exploited. Moreover, there are no occupational-safety systems that would protect them from exposure to toxins.

The harmful practises, however, are lucrative. Konadu says that he is sourcing computer waste from Ghana, but often does not want to pay as much as informal recyclers do. To some extent, it boosts his competitiveness that ERG extracts more value from the waste because the sister company TMG uses some of the parts. On the other hand, Konadu’s companies cannot cut costs by illegally disposing of low-value materials.

Konadu is used to hearing the complaint that he is producing only second-class goods for poor people. His response is that he is really serving their needs by offering items they can afford. At the same time, he is serving the public good by making sensible use of otherwise hazardous waste. Moreover, he has created around 30 formal jobs in a metropolis where underemployment is a huge problem.

Hans Dembowski is D+C’s former editor-in-chief. 
euz.editor@dandc.eu