The Electronics Source Book
August 10, 2005
If you think RoHS and WEEE are tough compliance orders, just wait until you to see what U.S. states and other countries have in mind. The electronics industry is getting turned upside down as it struggles to comply with the European Union’s Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), but the industry may be in for even greater regulatory pressure as U.S. states and other countries begin passing additional environmental legislation.
So far, the majority of U.S. states have initiated environmental regulations targeting the electronics industry. “Twenty seven states have proposed legislation and more than 100 bills are progressing through legislatures,” notes Paul Tallentire, president of component distributor, Newark InOne. He notes those bills primarily focus on recycling, and so far they are not uniform. “It’s primarily bills in progress or bills that are already passed for recycling, and different states are drafting different forms of legislation.
Newark maintains a state-by-state update on pending and passed environmental legislation on its RoHS Express Website: (http://www.newark.com/services/rohs/index.html). The state-by-state guide is updated regularly by Newark attorneys. In order to comply with the flood of new legislation, the electronics industry will have to continually revamp its business practices. “We have to change our businesses to meet those different pieces of legislation,” says Tallentire.
As for legislation outside the United States, 13 countries have already mandated electronics take-back, or recycling laws. Newark executives predict that within five years, that number will double. Europe may seem far away from the North American electronics market, but a change in Europe means a change in all business, since companies can’t easily produce specific products for specific regions. Most companies concede that RoHS-type rules will soon exist in most U.S. states and many foreign countries. “We believe environmental legislation will affect every consumer in America, not because there is RoHS legislation in your state, but because the entire industry is moving to lead-free parts,” says Tallentire. “No one can say ‘I’m not affected by it’, even those who are exempt.”
The defense industry and portions of the telecommunications industries are exempt from RoHS rules, but for the most part, those exemptions are illusory. For one, both the defense and the telecommunications industries purchase significant numbers of commercial parts. Those parts are going green. And even component manufacturers that claim they will continue to produce leaded versions of their parts will probably not do so for long. “The vendors are focusing on the RoHS directive and that’s what’s changing their product plans,” says Tallentire. “There is still not a lot of clarity of what exemptions will really exist when all the legislation passes. People are assuming there will not be many exemptions.” And even if a company decides it is exempt by the letter of the RoHS directive, that doesn’t mean the company will be exempt in every new state and country environmental law.
Tallentire sees some hope in the recent congressional hearings on what to do about the growing amount of electronic waste. “Chief among the speaker’s concerns was the increasing amount electronic waste and the toxicity of it,” says Tallentire. “But they also expressed concern about the patchwork of different state and local regulations arising in the absence of a national policy.” Tallentire would like to see a national policy that would supercede state law, creating on single standard for the electronics industry to meet.
During congressional testimony, a U.S. Department of Commerce representative quoted statistics from a recent report from the International Association of Electronic Recyclers that claims three billion units of electronics products would be scrapped during the remainder of this decade, an average of 400 million units per year. That includes 200 million televisions and one billion units of computer equipment.
In September, congress will meet again on the environmental impact of electronics industry waste, and they will listen to experts from electronics manufacturers, retailers, associations, recyclers, charitable organizations and environmental groups.
1. Industry braces for the lead-free conversion
2. Progress on lead-free components spotty
3. IDT: 99 percent lead free already
4. Actel goes green on 100% of its FPGA products
5. Lead-free parts: Welcome to the messy supply chain
6. Are the military and telecommunications industries off the hook on RoHS?
7. Will
electronic equipment fail from tin-whisker shorts?
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