Waste of electrical and electronic equipment

To illustrate the concept of external (or damage) cost, we can first look at the emissions from Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) to the air. The different points leading to the evaluation of emission s impact are the following [36] ... 

The predominant regulations in the EU impacting flame-retardants have been the Restriction of the Use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive, Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, and more recently the REACH Regulation. While RoHS and WEEE only deal with electrical and electronic equipment as defined in the directives, REACH impacts all substances manufactured and used in the EU. 

The European Union has been quite visible in recent years with such directives. RoHS (Restriction in the use of Hazardous Substances), WEEE (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment), and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemical substances). RoHS places restrictions on use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and some polybrominated diphenylethers. WEEE targets responsible recycling of electronic equipment. REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use... 

H. Boerrigter, Implementation of Thermal Processes for Feedstock Recycling from Plastic Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Netherlands Energy Research Foundation, Report ECN-C-00-114, 2000. 

In Europe, end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and packaging are subject to legislatiorts trying to improve their recychng. Note that, in a global market, local legislation has repercussions on the whole planet. 

Waste of electrical and electronic equipment such as computers and televisions, etc. is quickly growing in the EU and expected to be more than 12 million tons by 2020 [13]. Eigure 4 displays old and defective electronic equipment [14]. 

EnvirOTimental trends are having an impact on electrical applications. Waste legislation includes WEEE (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive 2002/%/EC which holds producers responsible for collection and recovery of materials at end of Ufe. Additionally, materials that contain bromine-based flame retardants must be removed from the waste and handled separately. In restrictions on use of hazardous substances (ROHS) directive 2002/95/EC, the use of various hazardous materials is restricted. These include lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ether. Since the introduction of Blue Angel in Germany in 1978, several other eco-labels have been implemented. These include TCO (Sweden), Nordic Swan, Milieukeur (Netherlands), and the EU Ecolabel. The general purpose of these labels is to provide cmisumers with information relating to the environmental impact of the products they purchase. 

Schlummer, M. Brandi, F. Maurer, A. van Eldik, R. Analysis of flame retardant additives in pol3mier Factions of waste of electric and electronic equipment by means of HPLC-UV/MS And GPC HPLC-UV. J. Chromatogr. A, 2005,1064, 39-51. 

In the early 1990s, legislation was proposed in the US, but no regulatory action was taken. The movement toward lead-free electronics emerged into concrete legislation in Europe on June 13, 2000 when the European Commission adopted two proposals A Directive on Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and a Directive on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS). The WEEE requires Member States to set up take-back centers for end-of-life recovery at no cost to the consumer. The initial WEEE included the ROHS requirements and... 

Isolating agent in small capacitors Cl < 42% Closed Waste from electric and electronic equipment/ household waste Possible in state-of-the-art sorting plants... 

In 2003, the European WEEE-Directive 2002/96/EG [5] was implemented to reduce the amount of electronic waste and foster reuse, recovery and recycling of electric and electronic equipment. Closely connected to this, the restriction of hazardous substances Directive 2002/95/EG [6] (RoHS) was adopted by the EC in 2003 with the aim to restrict the use of hazardous substances in the manufacture of electric and electronic products. 

Lymberidi, E. (2001). Towards Waste-Free Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The examples are cited from Tadatomo Suga, University of Tokyo, Good practice on the substitution of heavy metals in... 

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment arises at the sorting plant, where the frame, the printed circuit board PCB, the cathode ray tube, etc. are separated for recycling. The remaining plastics fraction is in part flame-retarded, hence contains brominated and antimony compounds. The number of WEEE recycling plants is growing, so that the logistics are no longer a major problem. 

The European Union s directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) requires companies selling electronic products in Europe to set up end-of-life collection and recycling systems for these products by August 2005. 

Significant effort has recently been put in for the elimination of polymer wastes from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) by pyrolysis. WEEE includes mainly epoxy resins and styrene polymers. They often contain brominated aromatics, which are highly contaminant. However, their elimination by simple thermal treatments is no longer possible as one of the most important drawbacks in dealing with thermal treatment of WEEE is the likely production of supertoxic halogenated dibenzodiox-ins and dibenzofurans. A pyrolysis method at low temperature range was developed, which limited the formation of such toxic by-products and reduced pyrolysis costs, even at relatively long residence times in the reactor. 

Until recently 96% of all discarded electrical and electronic equipment in Europe was landfilled. This amounted to about 14 kg of equipment per inhabitant every year, and the practice is now to be banned. All post-consumer electrical and electronic products will have to be collected and subjected to specific disposal procedures. The WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) (February 2003) requires the manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment appliances to bear the cost of recovery and recycling. It is intended to ensure the recovery of 300,000 tonnes of electrical and electronic plastics waste material per year by 2006, the date by which each member state should be collecting 4 kg per inhabitant by separate collection procedures. 

The behaviour of FRs during recycling, either by melt processing or by incineration, has been the subject of some controversy, with most of the argument centring on brominated retardants, which are particularly suitable for moulded housings of electrical and electronics equipment. The European Commission, in its draft directive for recycling. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), proposed that such components should be removed from equipment and treated separately from the rest of the waste stream, which could amount to a ban. 

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive aims to reduce the amount of electrical waste, increase recovery and recycling, and improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the lifecycle of electrical and electronic equipment. 

Environmental laws regulating the disposal of hazardous chemical waste may also be informed by the LCA concept. The Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive in the European Union is closely linked to the RoHS directive restricting the use of specific chemicals in electrical products. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the United States complanents other environmental laws that regulate toxic chemicals by regulating the disposal of the hazardous chemical by-products of industrial processes. A significant difference between RCRA and WEEE is that WEEE is linked to pollution prevention laws such as RoHS, while RCRA is more of an end of the pipe law. 

The Eiuropean Union WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) legislation (Ref 111), several years in the making, mandates that, effective 2006, producers (i.e., companies whose names appear on the product) must be responsible for the take-back and disposition of their products at the end-of-life (EOL) of the product. The legislation is designed to tackle the fast increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment. In Japan, the Home Appliance Recycle Law of 2001 mandates that 60% of the e-waste must be recycled. In the U.S., recycling programs are in place in many states and localities. 

This chapter explores the environmental implications of lead-free vs. lead-based solder. It presents an environmental approach known as industrial ecology and analyzes the present lead-based vs. lead-free systems using this approach. The sources, availability, and extraction of required alternative metals are explored. The quantity of lead utilized for electronics is put into perspective relative to other lead applications. Disposal concerns regarding landfill and incineration are addressed. Finally, the value of recycling electronics at end-of-life is illustrated by the anticipated copper recovery required under the European Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). 

European Environmental Bureau (EEB) s Comments on the Commission s Proposal for a Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment (EEE), Sep. 2000. 

NEMA (Japanese National Electrical Manufacturers Association), Statement of Principles on EU Directives Regarding Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Substance Bans. 

Directive 2002/96/EC ofthe European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (2003) Official Journal ofthe European Union, L37 13/02/2003, 24-39. 

The second possibility is the European waste legislation, which includes the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). The RoHS Directive is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) which sets collection, recycling, and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of toxic e-waste. 

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