BOSCH has announced its plans of reducing harmful emissions into the environment due to the presence of lead-acid in their car batteries by introducing new batteries and an eco-friendly sustainable recycling programme against the environmentally harmful way that scrub dealers discard car batteries in Ghana.
Julien Lacoste, West Africa Regional Director at BOSCH Ghana, explained that automotive lead-acid car batteries contain various heavy metals and toxic chemicals, which are harmful to the environment and the health of individuals. The introduction of the recycling system gives customers the opportunity to return any lead-acid old car battery for a 5% discount on a new one they purchase or get a 5% value of the old battery returned.
The sustainable recycling program also aims at supporting the creation of formal jobs primarily in the logistic and training fields. As of November 2020, 14 collections points have already been deployed with an objective to double the collection points by 2021.
Julien noted that more than 90% of lead-acid batteries can be recycled and as a social responsibility, the company has introduced the sustainable recycling programme to prevent the harmful recycling process that takes place at the Agbogbloshie open-recycling plant by scrub dealers.
He encouraged the scrub dealers to also support the cause of eco-friendliness by returning the old batteries they pick up and get paid a 5% wage of the worth of the batteries they return.
“We have looked at the e-waste system with Agbogbloshie and it is not the best way to go about recycling especially car batteries. The environment is key for us because the battery is made with acid and lead and it’s not good for human environment. So, this is more like our corporate social responsibility. We are not taking batteries just from BOSCH but any old battery from any brand at all is welcome”, said Julien Lacoste
He emphasized that the long-term sustainability of Ghana’s environmental landscape requires legal compliance in the handling of used automotive Batteries, and BOSCH in Ghana fully supports the recycling project that focuses on collection and recycling of used automotive lead-acid batteries.
On his part, Kingsley Out-Koram, Country Sales Manager at Bosch Ghana, added that the program targets battery sellers, battery collectors and end-users with an incentive program to bolster change in behaviours on handling of automotive batteries.
Yves Nono, Africa Regional President affirmed the need for such initiatives noting that, “After a successful pilot project in Ghana, we intend to expand such project across other African countries.”
BOSCH in Ghana becomes a key player in the lead-acid battery recycling project, established by a reverse logistic in partnership with Ghanaian professional market players, City Waste Management Ghana, battery distributors, used battery collectors and end-consumers.
Currently, the management of used batteries in the field does not focus on socially responsible actions of key role players with no application of the recommended standards that ultimately posing health risks, soil contamination and water pollution. According to the United Nation statistics, the estimated market volume is around 800,000 units of batteries traded every year in Ghana.
As the world’s largest independent supplier to the automotive industry, BOSCH significantly contributes toward making driving ever safer, cleaner, and more economical. It develops innovative solutions that facilitate new mobility offerings for private or commercial vehicles, multimodal transportation services, fleet management, or smart transport infrastructure.
The Automotive Aftermarket division offers state-of-the-art spare parts, diagnostics solutions and services to maintain & repair vehicles over lifetime.
