CAT Africa

Business case

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Producing electrical equipment and machinery for industrial use

Capital Equipment

Producing electronics products for businesses and consumers, including cellular phones, personal computers, printers, servers, electronic computer components and peripherals, TVs, audio equipment, as well as household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc.

Electronics and Appliances

Producing electric cables and wires, power-generating equipment, including solar modules, motors, power turbines, as well as electronic equipment and instruments, including computer chips, communication equipment, analytical instruments, lasers, display screens, point-of-sales machines, security system equipment, and healthcare equipment

Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Designing products so they use as little materials, water, energy, etc. as possible during use

Design for resource efficiency

Designing products to remove any barriers to recycling and enable easy recyclability

Design for recycling

Designing products so they are able to be easily repaired

Design for repair

Designing products to be reused for the same or different purposes in multiple lifecycles

Design for reuse

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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 Awuah-Darko co-founded the non-profit Agbogblo.Shine Initiative, which encourages people working at the Agbogbloshie dumping site in Ghana to turn e-waste into high-end furniture. The university student dreams of a future when more than 100 people from Agbogbloshie can leave the hazardous work of burning toxic waste to create something sustainable. 
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Joseph Awuah Darko22-year-old Joseph Awuah-Darko is determined to tackle Ghana’s electronic waste problem head-on. The young Awuah-Darko is spearheading an innovative approach to environmentally sound management of electronic waste in Ghana. In 2017, he founded Agbogblo.Shine Initiative- a social enterprise geared towards sustainable recycling of e-waste at Agbogbloshie.Awuah-Darko on site-AgbogbloshieTHE E-WASTE PROBLEMAt the heart of Accra’s waste management problem iselectronic waste. Agbogbloshie represents Africa’s biggest e-waste dump. Every year, tonnes of e-waste are illegally imported into Ghana; a clear contravention to the Basel Convention. Most of these obsolete electronic equipment (laptops, mobile phones, TV, computers) finds it resting place at Agbogbloshie. Young men gather daily at the e-waste dump to search for copper, aluminum and other valuable metals from the e-waste. The extraction process involves the burning of electrical wires and plastics. Agbogbloshie highlights serious environmental pollution and public health concerns.The dismantling and sorting of E-waste by scrap dealers.REPAIR, REUSE AND RECYCLEDespite Agbogbloshie’s gloomy story, Mr. Awuah-Darko is committed to changing the narrative. Since 2017, Agbogblo.Shine Initiative offered skills training to scrap dealers to transform e-waste into high-end furniture and valuable art by applying design thinking. Awuah-Darko made a grandfather clock from a galvanized car axle, aluminum, and a discarded wall clock.Grandfather clock made from a galvanized car axle, aluminum, and a discard wall clock.Awuah Darko’s team started by educating scrap dealers on the need to adopt sustainable and safer methods of handling e-waste. They also advocated against the burning of e-waste because of the rippling effects on the environment (air quality) and the health risk it poses to scrap dealers. Awuah-Darko believes the future of Agbogbloshie is beyond an e-waste dump. He has an ambitious plan to transform Agbogbloshie e-waste dump into a creative hub. He chooses to find opportunities and solution amid the e-waste mess. Agbogbloshie has the potential to become a functional profit-making recycling economy.Art masterpiece made from E-waste [ credit : Awuah Darko]CHALLENGESThe journey has not been rosy. Awuah-Darko founded Agbogblo.Shine Initiative whiles schooling at Asheshi University. He was faced with the challenge of combining academic work with his commitment to Agbogblo.Shine project. He also encountered language barrier between his team and the scrap dealers.Awuah-Darko working on site. [credit : Agbogbloshine team]IMPACTAgbogblo.Shine Initiative is anchored on sustainable development goals 11-making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Their work is also linked with urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.Scrap dealers extracting copper wires after burning e-waste.The population of Agbogbloshie is made up of economic migrants from northern and rural parts of Ghana. The Agbogblo.Shine Initiative is seeking to empower residents of Agbogbloshie to add value to e-waste whiles creating an alternative livelihood for them. This means placing people and the environment at the center of the e-waste solution.In May of 2018, Awuah-Darko was awarded by the West African Business Excellence Awards as “ Most Promising Social Enterprise “. Mostly for his efforts in climate action and environmental conservation. He became the youngest person to win the award. Mr. Awuah-Darko was also listed by Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30 game-changers in creatives category.Joseph Awuah-Darko with his award.Photo credit : Forbes AfricaThe role of key stakeholders in terms of policy direction on e-waste cannot be over-emphasized. There is also an urgent need to create more awareness on issues concerning e-waste management. Awuah-Darko is strongly campaigning to ensure electronic waste are managed in a manner that protect human health and the environment against its adverse effect. Agbogblo.Shine Initiative is a big step in the right direction. Joseph Awuah-Darko is taking a huge leap and also paving the way for a young generation of problems solvers.SINKING IN E-WASTE (DOCUMENTARY)

Air pollution, the number one environmental risk to public health, costs roughly $2 billion per year and causes the premature death of nearly 16,000 people each year. Elderly account for most of the deaths, while more than half of the deaths from pneumonia in children under five is associated with air pollution.   Water Pollution causes significant damage equivalent to 3% of the GDP. This is due to the health effects of inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and discharge of solid industrial and toxic waste into water systems.  Plastics pollution is rising to crisis proportions. Each day, over 3,000 metric tons of plastic waste is produced with much of it dumped as litter or placed into improvised landfills. This waste clogs open drainage systems and pollutes the ocean.   E-waste, associated with the Agbogbloshie dumpsite, is Accra’s main source of air pollution. Here, burning electronic parts cast carcinogenic compounds into the air while deposited toxic metals enter waterways and oceans. Each year, exposure to lead and mercury-causing diseases and the lost IQ points in children cost $440 million.   Poor land management leads to land degradation, costing over US$500 million a year and to deforestation costing US$400 million a year: five million hectares of forest was lost between 2001 and 2015. Over the past decade, artisanal gold mining aggravated the degradation as streams and rivers were dug up to find gold. Miners’ exposure to the toxic mercury also costs $240 million in health costs.   Ghana loses about 2.7 million m2 of its shore every year, with 80% of the shoreline actively eroding. Coastal erosion and flooding are particularly serious in Greater Accra where sea level rise increases erosion intensity and raises the chance of flooding by 20%. This puts at risk communities and UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Cape Coast and Elmina. Overfishing cost $233 million and could lead to the collapse of small pelagic fisheries and the loss of half a million jobs.   Climate change heavily affects climate- sensitive sectors on which Ghana’s growth is based - agriculture, forestry, and energy. It also triggers environmental disasters: in the last 40 years, floods affected four million people and a 2015 flash flood in Accra caused $55 million in damages.  Ghana is responding to the urgent need to protect the natural capital through evidence-based actions and concrete steps to share the impact of growth, especially in terms of food security and human development.   Informed by this analysis, Ghana is prioritizing environmental issues in development planning. But it's crucial to act now to prevent the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on vulnerable people in Ghana . It is also key to understand the importance of well-informed communities and strong institutions in seeking accountability and transparency. Finally, Ghana would benefit from advancing critical policy reforms to allocate resources and benefits to communities.  E-Book: Learn more about Ghana Country Environmental Analysis


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Africa

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Accra

Ghana

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Agbogblo.Shine Initiative

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<p>Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the fastest growing waste streams. Most waste streams from Europe are ending up on open landfills in West Africa. One of the largest WEEE dumping sites is located in Agbogbloshie, Ghana. In 2017, the entrepreneur Joseph Awuah-Darko founded the Agbogblo.Shine Initiative to tackle the e-waste problem in Ghana. They are offering trainings and workshops to scrap dealers to process WEEE-waste without suffering from work-related health issues causing permanent distress on the worker.</p>