EPA holds enumerators training workshop ahead of National E-waste Inventory exercise

By Hafsa Obeng

Accra, Sept. 20, GNA – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of activities towards the preparation for the National E-Waste Inventory, has organized a two-day enumerators training workshop in the Greater Accra Region.

The training workshop, held for staff from the EPA Head office, Accra West, East and Kasoa offices, was to build the capacity of the staff for the enumeration exercise and to facilitate future updates of the e-waste inventory.

Mr. Larry Kotoe, Project Coordinator for the African Environmental Health and Pollution Management Programme, said the “National E-waste Inventory primarily sought to establish the actual volumes of e-waste in-country and inform policy interventions and business promotion within the e-waste value chain and the appropriate treatment options.”

He said the enumeration exercise, planned to commence in October, would see enumerators visiting houses, offices, and institutions to collect data on electrical and electronic equipment and their associated waste to help with the compilation of the inventory.

He added that similar training workshops were held for selected staff and potential field officers in other regions of the country and urged the public to expect the enumerators in their houses, offices, and institutions.

Mr.John Pwamang, Mountain Research Institute, Facilitators of the workshop, urged participants to take full advantage of the training to learn as much to enhance their capacity for an effective enumeration exercise.

He said the participants would collect data electronically using tablets and mobile phones.

The participants were taken through the various electronic and electrical equipment waste categories, the sampling framework, content of the questionnaire and related procedures.

They subsequently undertook mock interviews using the questionnaires. Following the mock interviews, the questionnaires were pretested in some parts of the Accra metropolis.

GNA