January 2006
Final preparations for RoHS
Despite further delay in implementing WEEE legislation to control electronics recycling, progress is being made in cutting hazardous substances out of electronics manufacturing and the resultant waste.
Electronic equipment has been the fastest growing waste stream in the EU; each EU citizen producing on average 17-20Kg a year. Ninety per cent of this waste is dumped in landfill sites or incinerated; one million tonnes of WEEE going to landfill in the UK alone each year. This has allowed the substances contained in the products to make their way into the soil, water and air.
Lead from electronic waste accounts for 40% of all lead found in landfills and 50% of that found in incinerators. Cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and lead, are all either toxic, carcinogenic or both.
Not only is the fact that they turn up in landfill sites and incinerators a cause for concern, but the products they are used in means they are already widespread throughout our homes and businesses.
Despite the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive being delayed in December for the third time, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations will go ahead this summer.
Manufacturers and enforcers are gearing up to meet RoHS
The final gearing up for the RoHS regulations has pushed the number of compliant products up from 10,000 to almost 50,000.
Gary Nevison, chairman of the Association of Franchised Distributors of Electronic Components' RoHS Team said, "Manufacturers are steadily improving the flow of compliance data as distributors start to build inventory levels of compliant parts while continuing to satisfy the on-going need for non-compliant components and assemblies."
The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) has been appointed as the enforcer of RoHS legislation in the UK. Nevison believes the NWML will adopt a softly, softly approach for the early stages of the introduction in 2006, initially with six enforcement staff.
A number of test houses are offering compliance checking services, but often at a high price and, as no testing standards have yet been defined, there can be no accreditation. Part of NWML's remit will be to register test houses and encourage producers to use accredited companies.
Continued debate
Nevison explained, "The hot topic is what documentation will be deemed acceptable to demonstrated due diligence, certification of compliance of full material declaration on its own is unlikely yo be sufficient." He suggested that it may be necessary to support such a certificate with robust risk assessment procedures covering both suppliers and high-risk substances. The British Standards Institution are working on a RoHS "trusted source" kitemark that emphasises such procedures.
Looking further ahead, the range of equipment covered by RoHS appears likely to change. Categories 8 for medical devices and 9 for monitoring and control instruments are currently exempt from RoHS, but will form part of a future implementation of the WEEE regulations. A review of the possibility of including categories 8 and 9 in RoHS undertaken by ERA Technology of behalf of the European Commission will report in April. The EC would then need to vote, so it is unlikely either category would be implemented until 2009 at the earliest.
If you are interested to discuss waste management and issues related to RoHS, please contact Steve Stones on 024 7632 3260.
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