West Africa has been the recipient of used electrical and electronic equipment imported onto the African continent with Nigeria, Republic of Benin and Ghana as the main import hub. Only 25% of the imported equipment is reportedly functional while 75% are either unserviceable or waste and hence, ends up in informal e-waste sites. The informal recycling of e-waste as practiced in West Africa has the potential to release a large quantity of contaminants into the recycling sites and the surrounding environment. Environmental matrices such as soil in the vicinity of the e-waste sites could be contaminated following informal e-waste recycling practices. Many children and adolescents work in these e-waste sites, risking negative impacts on their health. The number of harmful substances that humans could be directly or indirectly exposed to by e-waste is vast. The concentrations of these materials are variable but often are notably high, especially within the actual e-waste sites. Endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity and genotoxicity are among the health threats that can be expected from the diverse materials that are handled and that contaminate soil in such areas. Therefore in this present study, we will explore the environmental quality and toxicity profile of soil from major e-waste sites in West Africa using several endpoints which represent well established methods of routine testing in substance safety assessment. Moreover, we will analyse some families of persistent organic pollutants such as halogenated flame retardants and plasticizers, whose high presence has already been detected in e-waste. The study will contribute to sustaining research into understanding how exposure to mixture of e-waste chemicals trigger and contribute to diseases. The study is timely and novel considering the need to obtain accurate scientific data on the effects of exposure to hazardous chemicals in single and joint form. The outcome of this study will be used to generate an initial environmental health risk assessment report comparing the observed toxicity of soil from major e-waste sites in West Africa in order to inform and focus monitoring plans and risk management strategies.
Programa CSIC de Cooperación Científico para el Desarrollo I-COOP 2022, ref.: COOPB22064
Non-IDAEA personnel:
Eze, Chukwuebuka, Federal University Oye-Ekiti (Nigeria)
