Ghana’s e-waste sector — concentrated in urban hubs including Accra’s Agbogbloshie-Sodom complex, Kumasi’s Dagomba and Akwatia lines, and sites in Tamale and Sunyani — constitutes one of West Africa’s most significant mineral waste streams, generating annual economic value estimated at US $105–$268 million and sustaining livelihoods for over 200,000 people. Yet the governance and policy frameworks necessary to enable systematic, safe, and economically productive mineral waste valorisation remain fragmented, under-resourced, and disconnected from circular economy principles. This paper examines the governance architecture, social-ecological sustainability dynamics, and policy barriers shaping mineral waste valorisation in Ghana’s e-waste sector, drawing on original qualitative research involving 21 key informant interviews with stakeholders from government, civil society, development partners, private sector, and academia, complemented by policy document review and field observations across multiple sites. Applying an integrated Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework and sociotechnical transitions theory, the study identifies three structural barriers to effective valorisation: institutional fragmentation and policy-implementation gaps; economic distortions including foreign market dominance and pricing asymmetries that undermine incentive systems; and inadequate land allocation and ecological governance, exacerbated by the demolition of the central Agbogbloshie scrapyard. Findings reveal that while emerging interventions — including incentive-based collection systems, Human Capacity Development programmes, and public-private infrastructure partnerships — demonstrate promising results, their impact remains limited due to weak vertical and horizontal integration across the value chain. The paper advances a governance reform agenda centred on informal sector inclusion, unified policy frameworks, sustainable financing mechanisms, and spatially anchored circular economy implementation as prerequisites for unlocking the full valorisation potential of Ghana’s mineral waste streams.