Benjamin Adelwini Bugri,
Dennis Kwatia Amoako,
James Yaw Osei Owusu
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Benjamin Adelwini Bugri
Corresponding Author
Department of Procurement and Supply Science, Faculty of Business and Management Studies, Koforidua Technical University, Koforidua, Ghana
ORCID: 0009-0005-3274-1318
Correspondence: bbugri.adelwini@ktu.edu.gh
Dennis Kwatia Amoako
Department of Procurement and Supply Science, Faculty of Business and Management Studies, Koforidua Technical University, Koforidua, Ghana
James Yaw Osei Owusu
Department of Procurement and Supply Science, Faculty of Business and Management Studies, Koforidua Technical University, Koforidua, Ghana
ORCID: 0000-0003-2670-0040
Abstract
Ghana’s transition to a circular economy (CE) depends on legal rules that decide when waste becomes a resource, who is responsible for products at end of life, and which institutions may authorise material recovery. This study examines these conditions in three industrial supply chains (electronic waste, construction and packaging) using a qualitative multiple-case design informed by the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions. We analysed legislation, policy documents, legal commentary and the peer-reviewed and grey literature of 2015 to 2026, coding the rules of the waste regime against three legal gateways (material status, producer responsibility and institutional authority) and the legal inclusion of informal recovery actors. The Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124) repealed the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490) and the Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management Act, 2016 (Act 917) and mandated the new Environmental Protection Authority to promote extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the CE. Even so, the sources reviewed point to four persistent barriers: no operational route for materials to cease being waste; EPR confined to electronic waste while plastics legislation remains in draft; fragmented mandates across environment, trade, sanitation, construction and procurement institutions; and the exclusion of informal actors from formal supply chains. Together they create regulatory uncertainty that raises the risk of circular investment. We propose a sequenced reform agenda built on regulations under Act 1124, a framework EPR law, statutory coordination, circular public procurement and formalisation pathways. The findings are analytical, not statistical, and should be tested through stakeholder research.
References
Legislation and official instruments
Republic of Ghana (1994) Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490) (repealed by Act 1124)
Republic of Ghana (2003) Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), as amended by the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914)
Republic of Ghana (2016a) Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management Act, 2016 (Act 917) (repealed by Act 1124)
Republic of Ghana (2016b) Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936)
Republic of Ghana (2016c) Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2250)
Republic of Ghana (2025) Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124)
Republic of Kenya (2024) Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, Legal Notice No. 176 of 2024. https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/ln/2024/176/eng@2024-12-06
Republic of South Africa (2020) Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations, Government Notice 1184 of 5 November 2020, under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act
European Parliament and Council (2008) Directive 2008/98/EC on waste and repealing certain Directives (Waste Framework Directive). Off J Eur Union L 312:3–30
UNEP (1989) Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
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