What a scrapyard in Ghana can teach us about innovation | DK Osseo-Asare

Summary

This video explores Agbogbloshie, a neighborhood in Accra, Ghana, highlighting its scrapyard as a symbol of both the challenges and innovations surrounding e-waste. It showcases the process of urban mining, where valuable materials like copper and aluminum are salvaged and repurposed. The community thrives through grassroots innovation, with local makers, welders, and scrap dealers transforming waste into new products. The video also emphasizes the importance of combining practical skills with technical knowledge to drive sustainable development and economic growth, illustrating the power of collaboration in fostering a circular economy.

Takeaways

• 😀 Agbogbloshie, a neighborhood in Accra, is known for its e-waste scrapyard, where technology ends its life through disassembly and recycling.
• 😀 The scrapyard symbolizes the downside of technology, where planned obsolescence contributes to environmental pollution and health risks due to toxic practices like burning wires for metal recovery.
• 😀 Agbogbloshie is also a place of resource recovery through 'urban mining,' where valuable materials like copper, aluminum, and gold are salvaged from electronic waste.
• 😀 While many see Agbogbloshie as a hazardous site, it also has a thriving industry of repair and refurbishment, where technicians reuse parts to give old electronics a new life.
• 😀 The community in Agbogbloshie practices an innovative form of circular economy, making valuable products from scrap materials, including items like cookstoves, plastic buckets, and even dumbbells.
• 😀 Makers in Agbogbloshie employ hands-on, heuristic learning methods to develop skills in welding, electronics, and crafting, which contrasts with traditional academic learning methods.
• 😀 The initiative by Yasmine Abbas and the speaker aimed to bring together STEAM students and grassroots makers from Agbogbloshie to innovate by repurposing e-waste into new technologies.
• 😀 The collaboration led to the creation of Spacecraft, a hybrid physical and digital platform that includes makerspaces, toolkits, and an app to connect scrap dealers, makers, and customers.
• 😀 The goal of Spacecraft is to improve the efficiency of recycling by offering incentives to scrap dealers to adopt cleaner methods, and to help makers find the materials they need for their projects.
• 😀 Sankofa, an important symbol from the Akan culture, represents the concept of learning from the past to shape a successful future. This philosophy is applied in the collaboration between grassroots makers and tech hubs in Africa.
• 😀 Agbogbloshie challenges the narrative of being just an e-waste dump, emphasizing that it is a dynamic scrapyard where materials are reworked, and products are remade, promoting a circular economy at the grassroots level.

Q & A

What is Agbogbloshie, and why is it significant?

Agbogbloshie is a neighborhood in Accra, Ghana, known for its scrapyard where e-waste from around the world is dismantled. It is significant because it symbolizes the challenges of technology's planned obsolescence and serves as a hub for urban mining, where valuable materials like copper, aluminum, and gold are recovered from discarded electronics.

What is urban mining, and how is it practiced in Agbogbloshie?

Urban mining refers to the process of extracting valuable materials from waste, particularly electronic waste. In Agbogbloshie, scrap dealers carefully recover materials like copper, aluminum, and steel from discarded electronics. This practice is more efficient than traditional mining, with some materials like gold and silver found in electronics being more abundant than in ore.

What role do young people in Agbogbloshie play in the e-waste industry?

Young people in Agbogbloshie are involved in dismantling electronic devices and recovering valuable components. Some also possess the skills to repair and refurbish electronic devices, giving them new life and making them available for sale, often to consumers who cannot afford new products.

How does Agbogbloshie contribute to the circular economy?

Agbogbloshie contributes to the circular economy by transforming waste into valuable resources. Instead of throwing away discarded electronics, people in Agbogbloshie recover materials to reuse and remake them into new products. This process of unmaking and remaking is a key aspect of the circular economy.

What is the significance of the Sankofa symbol in the context of innovation in Agbogbloshie?

The Sankofa symbol, which represents the idea of 'return and get it,' is relevant in Agbogbloshie because it emphasizes the importance of drawing on past knowledge and traditional practices to drive future success. This concept is central to the innovation efforts in Agbogbloshie, where local, grassroots knowledge is combined with modern technological skills to create sustainable solutions.

What is the 'makerspace' model, and how does it work in Agbogbloshie?

The 'makerspace' model in Agbogbloshie provides a physical and digital space for local innovators to experiment, learn, and create new products. It connects young people from STEAM fields with grassroots makers and scrap dealers to collaborate on projects, such as building new machines and tools from e-waste.

How does the makerspace kiosk in Agbogbloshie differ from traditional schools?

The makerspace kiosk in Agbogbloshie offers a hands-on learning environment that contrasts with traditional schooling methods. It emphasizes experiential and experimental learning, where people learn by doing and collaborating, rather than simply memorizing information. This approach fosters creativity, entrepreneurial skills, and practical knowledge.

What kind of tools and technologies are developed in Agbogbloshie's makerspaces?

In Agbogbloshie, tools and technologies are developed using materials recovered from e-waste. For example, copper from old transformers is used to make welding machines. Local artisans also create tools, workbenches, and machines that help in further recycling and manufacturing, showcasing the community's ingenuity in turning waste into functional tools.

How does the Spacecraft platform support innovation in Agbogbloshie?

The Spacecraft platform is a hybrid physical and digital space designed to support innovation in Agbogbloshie. It connects makers, scrap dealers, and end-users through a makerspace kiosk, customizable tool kits, and a trading app. The platform allows people to collaborate, exchange resources, and create new products, with a focus on sustainability and the circular economy.

What is the future vision for Agbogbloshie's innovation ecosystem?

The future vision for Agbogbloshie's innovation ecosystem includes expanding the makerspace concept with new tools like CNC bots and developing a low-cost, modular system that can be locally manufactured. This system will help makers in the informal sector access resources, learn by doing, produce products, and generate income, ultimately amplifying their reputation and potential as innovators.