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Julien Lacoste, Regional Director for West Africa, Bosch, Ghana on Tuesday urged the public to dispose of used car batteries properly to keep the environment and individual lives safe from their contents.
He said lead acid car batteries contain various heavy metals and toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment and people’s health if exposed to humans.
He said that currently, the management of used batteries in the field does not focus on socially responsible actions of key players without the application of recommended standards that ultimately pose health risks, soil contamination and water contamination.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr. Lacoste said that as part of Bosch Ghana’s efforts to disinfect the environment from such contaminations, it had started a car battery project to collect used car batteries for its recycling.
“The long-term sustainability of Ghana’s environmental landscape requires legal compliance in the handling of used automotive batteries, Bosch in Ghana fully supports the recycling project that focuses on the collection and recycling of used lead-acid automotive batteries,” he said. .
He said that according to United Nations statistics, the estimated market volume was around 800,000 units of batteries traded each year in Ghana, adding that as a battery production company, he had taken the initiative to salvage these used car batteries. .
“We not only collect Bosch batteries, but all brands of batteries; everyone has a role to play in keeping the environment safe, ”he said.
Kingsley Otu-Koram, Country Sales Manager at Bosch Ghana, said that most of the used car batteries ended up in the Agbogbloshi e-waste dump, where they were improperly burned to extract their contents, which ended up contaminating the quality of the air and represents a danger to both animals and humans.
He said that in light of this, the program is targeting battery vendors, battery collectors and end-users with an incentive package to drive behavior change in car battery handling.
In addition, he said, the program aims to support the creation of formal jobs mainly in the fields of logistics and training.
He said 14 collection points have already been deployed with the goal of doubling collection points by 2021.
He said that since the start of the project in November 2020, there are around 15 collection points currently in Accra, including points around Spintex, Palace Mall, Melcom stores, Achimota, Industrial Area, Abosseyokai, Main Nsawam Road, Dansoman Roundabout and all Bosch. points of sale.
He said they had plans to extend the projects to other major cities in the nation, such as Kumasi, Takoradi and beyond.
Mr. Otu-Koram said that as an incentive, a five percent discount on the price of one type of battery was given to anyone who returns a used battery to their collection points; “The battery must not break and must have its contents intact.”
He said the incentive was given in cash or as a discount on the purchase of a new battery.
Source: GNA
