A ban on the import of second-hand refrigerators is coming into force in Ghana to reduce energy consumption and harm to the environment.

Many old fridges contain chemicals called Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage the Earth's ozone layer.

Although these are already banned or being phased out, they are thought to be commonly used in Africa.

The head of Ghana's energy commission told the BBC the ban made Ghana "a pioneer in West Africa".

The ban was first introduced in 2008 but was extended to give dealers time to adjust.

However, some Ghanaian traders have criticised the ban, saying thousands of jobs will be lost.

Energy commission head Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkora says the second-hand refrigerators are harming the country as they were not built for use in Africa and so consume too much electricity.

The commission says some two million used fridges have been imported to Ghana, mainly from the European Union.

BBC

Meanwhile the "giant of Africa" is still importing any and every waste & junk from anywhere & everywhere.

It is commendable,but what provisions have they made to make brand new affaordable fridges available?

Africa is seen a s a junk yard by the europeans here any condemned white good can be duped and reused,since africans dont have choice.

redsun: It is commendable,but what provisions have they made to make brand new affaordable fridges available?

Necessity, they say, is the mother of inventions. The ban on dangerous tokunbo fridges will spur entrepreneurs to fill in the gap.
Kenya has maintained a ban on import of cars over seven years old for some time now and they still have many cars on their road that comply with this rule.

Good job Ghana.

Good for the Ghana and I hope this will extend to other african states.

In SA we band the import second hand cars including electronics which forced manufacturers to either manufacture locally or face very high import duty taxes.

The only problem I say with this is how well this law will be enforced because we africans are good at making laws bt poor on enforcement.

snydergp: Good for the Ghana and I hope this will extend to other african states.

In SA we band the import second hand cars including electronics which forced manufacturers to either manufacture locally or face very high import duty taxes.

The only problem I say with this is how well this law will be enforced because we africans are good at making laws bt poor on enforcement.

that's good too.
second hand cars are a mess.

btw OT: I can't wait for the day a black nation design and mass produce their own line of automobiles. Why should Europe, USA, & Asian countries have all the fun?

Manufacturing is not the problem but the availibility of good engineers because even in my country they are poached by multi nationals.

Competiveness will also be a problem when producing ur own because as we all know we africans worships everything foreign even the current Chinese plastic cheap sh*t cars