Knowledge, Practices, and Environmental and Occupational Health Risks Associated with Electronic Waste Recycling in Cotonou, Benin

Objective: The e-waste recycling is increasing worldwide, yet there remain outstanding environmental and occupational health concerns.Most research conducted on e-waste recycling has focused on only few countries (e.g., China, Ghana), thus there is a need to increase understanding of e-waste workers' (recyclers') knowledge and practices in other locations, that is purpose of this study.Methods: In a cross-sectional study conducted in Cotonou, Benin, 45 e-waste recyclers were interviewed from September to November 2018.Survey data was collected concerning their demographics, professional practices, and knowledge of occupational and environmental risks associated with e-waste recycling.Results: Most participants reported the following methods of material recovery of electronic items in declining orders: dismantling (97.8%) > sorting (91.1%) > incinerating (88.9%).Only 44.2% of the recyclers reported wearing ≥ 1 piece of personal protective equipment (PPE).More than 90% of e-waste workers noted that they disposed the e-waste in natural sites.About half, 46.7% believed that e-waste can pollute water and 71.1% considered that it can pollute air and soil.Recyclers reported several diseases including respiratory (67.4%), heart (62.8%), eye (65.1%), kidney (41.9%) and cancers (30.2%) could be linked to their work, respectively.Interestingly, we also found associations between the number of electronic items dismantled per month and self-report symptoms from the e-waste recyclers such as finding blood in urine and stool, wounds, dizziness, and itchy skin.Our results also indicated associations between the number of