WEEE and RoHS
12 July 2010
Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, and in Europe the annual amount of WEEE is growing at a rate that is three times faster than the average annual rate of normal municipal waste collected.
WEEE is also a problem in the developing world where it is often exported to or dumped illegally and then treated inappropriately in unsafe conditions.
There are two European Directives that set out how to deal with the problem of collection and recycling or re-use of electrical and electronic equipment at the end of its life and to reduce hazardous content as part of the design at the start of its life.
WEEE
The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive aims to increase the collection rates of waste equipment, improve recycling and the re-use of materials, and to make producers responsible for collection and treatment of WEEE, including the costs of undertaking the task.
The resulting regulations implemented in the UK, which came into force in January 2007, require strict treatment of waste electronics once collected, including the separate removal and treatment of certain items that may contain hazardous materials, for instance: any PCBs with a surface area greater than 10 square centimetres; and large electrolytic capacitors.
In addition, users of equipment must be informed of the presence of any hazardous materials (e.g. mercury content) and recycling facilities must be able to locate these for separate treatment. It is important to remember that products on sale today, with a service lifetime of several years, will be subject to collection and treatment regulations of WEEE at the end of their life; current production designs and materials choices therefore have a direct cost impact during future recycling. Producers are also partly responsible for disposal and treatment costs of “historical” WEEE already sold within Europe prior to the enforcement date
RoHS
The RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment) Directive is designed to reduce the level of hazardous materials used in the construction of electrical and electronic equipment. The aim is to prevent release of these substances into the environment at the end of the equipment’s life and make recycling of WEEE more environmentally friendly.
The RoHS Directive severely restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two types of brominated flame retardants, PBB and PBDE. Any products put on the market in Europe were required to comply with these requirements as from July 2006. This means any equipment being sold after that date, not (as is sometimes suggested) only equipment produced after that date, or only equipment designed after this date.
One of the biggest challenges for the industry was to move to assembling products using lead-free solders. But lead-free solders were not new, for example the 96%Sn-4%Ag alloy had already been in use for many years for higher melting point applications. This melts at 2210C whereas a standard tin-lead eutectic alloy solder melts at 1830C. Lead-free solders are more expensive than the Sn/Pb solder alloy, so their general usage was mostly limited to certain special applications, such as where food or drink may come into contact with the solder joint.
There are now two new reasons for using a lead-free solder. The RoHS Directive rules mean that if you sell an electronic product produced using a lead containing solder in Europe after July 2006 you will be breaking the law. (Though there are certain exceptions to this, but you will need to study the directive text and the regularly updated list of exemptions carefully to see if this is applicable to your situation.)
The second reason is that your company, or one of your customers, has a global lead-free policy. This is normally, but not always linked, to some national electronic equipment end-of-life disposal legislation.
Other countries do already have, or are in the process of implementing, regulations similar to the RoHS and WEEE directives and it is important to keep well informed about this.
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