Closing the Policy-Implementation Gaps in E-Waste Management: Implications for Circular Economy and Sustainability in Urban Ghana

Globally, national and city governments in developing regions are making frantic efforts to regulate and manage electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) to protect the environment and reduce its attendant environmental effects on the urban populace. Because of the above, some countries have formulated several policies and legislations aimed at tackling the problem of e-waste at different aspects of the value chain and effectively manage the negative ecological footprints often associated with e-waste proliferation. In global south cities, discussions on policies and legislations on the management of e-waste have rarely been situated in the circular economy discourse, and more so how the implementation of these policies and legislations harness circular economy principles for sustainable development. Drawing on a content analysis of scholarly literature and policy/legislative documents, this chapter aims at examining policy and implementation gaps in the management of e-waste in Ghana and its implications on the quest towards a circular economy development paradigm. We assert the imperative for e-waste management to be institutionally framed in circular economy principles to advance progress towards the sustainable urban development in Ghana.