The results of the research titled "Study on soil contamination in lead-acid battery recycling factories in Douala, Cameroon" revealed that soil contamination levels inside the three factories rose up to 7.6%, near fences 15% and more than 2% in factories.
Lead battery recycling is an extremely hazardous industry that receives little attention in Cameroon and other African countries. The objective of this study is to evaluate potential lead soil contamination in and around licensed lead battery recycling plants in Cameroon which are all located within Douala city limits.
We conducted a study around lead battery recycling plants in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Tunisia. Our results showed significant lead contamination around 15...
November 8, 2023: Inadequate pollution controls and extensive lead contamination has been discovered at three licensed lead battery recycling plants in Cameroon, according to a study released on November 7.
countries could refine materials for lithium battery production and export to the US and EU. Refining could be in countries that are currently mining raw materials required for battery cell production or have a plan to start by 2030. These include: Cobalt: Cameroon, DRC, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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Whenever the sun sets, Agathe Ngo Nkot likes to relax at a place called Carrefour Bana, a corner of the Oyack district in the 3rd borough of the economic capital of Cameroon. Sitting near a speaker that vibrates urban music, she raises her voice to to speak to two women who are putting on makeup in front of the giant mirror of a hair salon.
Agathe, 41, has lived for two years about a hundred meters from the Bana crossroads. If she feels happy each time to return to this noisy place, it is not only to have fun with her loved ones. She takes advantage of the exchanges, she says, to forget for a moment the health concerns of Princess and Jules Merlin, her two young children who were born when she lived near the recycling plants for used lead acid batteries.
Agathe noticed when he was born that Jules Merlin was doing well, she says. Later, she discovered that her little boy, now three years old, still did not express himself. While those around her are still trying to understand the cause of this growth anomaly, Agathe gave birth six months ago to her last daughter, Princess, who contracted a lung infection. With this second hard blow, Agathe became afraid and left the Bana crossroads. She suspects factory fumes are responsible for her children’s misfortunes.
"I tell myself that this happened because of the smell of smoke coming from the industrial zone and entering the house," said Agathe, rocking Princess in her arms. "The smells came from the people who make the batteries."
Agathe is right to be worried. Without her knowledge, scientists recently took soil samples in and around the factories of Kyzen Global sarl, Metafrique Cameroun and Ganesha Cameroon, three companies specializing in the recycling of used lead batteries in the economic capital. After analysis, experts found that the communities near the factories where people live contain levels of "significant contamination" with lead which have negative effects on human health.
"The manufacturing and recycling of lead-acid batteries is an extremely dangerous industry," said Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of Occupational Knowledge International (OK International), a US-based NGO involved in analyzing the lead-acid battery samples and soils and uses innovative strategies to reduce exposure to industrial pollutants. "Because, these processes involve the smelting of lead, which releases airborne lead fumes that are easily absorbed," Gottesfeld added.
Experts further state that children exposed to lead fumes are more vulnerable.
For months, The Museba Project and the The Examination a non-profit US news organisation have investigated the health status of children born and raised near lead-acid battery recycling industries in Douala, and found that many of them suffer from growth retardation, lung infections, dizziness, vomiting, and mood disorders.
"Lead poisoning is little researched in our context," Dr Wagou Nintcheu Irène, a medical biologist in Yaoundé, told The Museba Project. "The most important reason being that the majority of cases are asymptomatic for weeks to several months."
In Oyack, the industrial zone of Bassa (Ziba) has long been a source of pride. The Ziba has been managed since its creation in 1984 by the Mission for the Development and Management of Industrial Zones (Magzi), a state body responsible for promoting and managing industrial zones.
Ziba, which covers an area of 150 hectares, supervises nearly 150 companies operating in sectors such as industrial sawing, metallurgy, recycling and production. Five years ago, business owners created the Association of Businesses in the MAGZI Douala/Bassa industrial zone called "EZIMAD".
One of the Association’s missions is to "reduce the environmental impacts of companies by helping them to comply" with environmental regulations. The Museba Project asked the Association’s permanent secretary if the effects of lead-acid battery recycling on local communities concerns Ezimad.
"Ezimad is based on the concept of industrial symbiosis which includes a more global approach to different types of industrial cooperation," Marcel Dimitri Beat said in an email message. Difficult to understand all the same. And when a company does not comply with environmental regulations? "You are without doubt that the greatest weapon to impact people is awareness," concluded the permanent secretary of Ezimad, also an expert in sustainable development.
If Ezimad does not do so, scientists are interested in the consequences of lead-acid battery recycling activities.
On July 6, 2023, experts from OK International and the Center for Research and Education for Development (CREPD), took soil samples to a maximum depth of 3 centimeters near the barriers, inside and outside the factories of Ganesha Cameroon sarl, Metafrique Cameroun SA and Kyzen Global sarl. This study commissioned by The Examination was necessary to establish the evidence of the impact of this industry on the environment and the health of populations, according to Dr Gilbert Kuepouo, geochemist and executive director of CREPD, a Cameroonian NGO which promotes sustainable development through the rational management of chemicals and dangerous products.
Lead is a highly toxic metal that produces a range of adverse health effects, particularly in young children. It is classified among the 10 most toxic chemical substances by the WHO, which does not recognize any level of exposure that is not dangerous to health. According to a recent study, lead is responsible for more than 5.5 million deaths worldwide each year.
Despite its harmfulness, lead is presented as the key to the future of renewable energy, transport, telecommunications and even agriculture. Lead-acid batteries account for more than 90% of global lead consumption and are one of the only growing uses of lead, experts say. This explains the hunt for lead carried out by the used battery recycling industry.
Temé Samba, a 50-year-old Malian citizen, owns a collection point for used lead-acid batteries located in the heart of Bépanda, a populous district of Douala. He buys the batteries according to the voltage from people, he says. When stocks are large, Samba resells these batteries by tonnage to industrial recycling companies, sometimes at more than 60,000 FCFA ($99) per unit.
"These companies provide us with documents to facilitate the transport of the batteries to the factory," explains Samba standing in front of a pile of batteries of various brands. He says he has earned "a little" money in the 15 years he has been a collector without revealing the amounts. However, he is aware of the health consequences of handling lead batteries and began taking precautions well in advance.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), considers 0.08% as a reference value for the elimination of contaminated soils in residential neighborhoods and 0.04% for residential sites.
Agathe Ngo Nkot had noticed several times that the wind deposited particles on vegetable leaves and surrounding furniture. But, when the smoke invaded their homes, she thought she would do her children good by locking them in the house.
"I left the children in the house and closed the door before leaving because I couldn’t stand the smells which were intoxicating me," says Agathe. "I protect myself with a muffler when I go to buy something."
Agathe’s worries began a few days after the birth of her son Jules Merlin. "He has a problem: he doesn’t speak, he has a delay in getting words out. I said to myself that maybe his tongue is stuck but we said that there is nothing," explains Agathe. "I was told that if there was money I had to enroll him in school and he could improve."
Exposure to excessive levels of lead can cause brain damage, affect child growth, damage the kidneys, harm hearing, cause vomiting, headaches and loss of appetite, as well as learning and behavioral problems, experts say. Fetuses, infants, and children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure compared to adults because lead is more easily absorbed by growing organisms. Additionally, young children’s tissues are more susceptible to the harmful effects of lead.
Agathe was unable to send the child to school due to lack of funds; her clothes are piled up in a corner of the living room of a benefactor who is hosting her and her children. Agathe has no job, she lives on the generosity of her neighbours. "People are helping me. My neighbour who sells food often gives me something to eat. The mother I live with also feeds me."
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