WEEE & RoHS : What's It All About?


It has been estimated that 6 million tonnes of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) has to be dealt with in Europe every year.

A failure to efficiently recycle, not only results in a significant loss of raw material resource, but also has an associated impact on the environment in terms of the energy required to mine, produce and transport new raw materials. Furthermore improved treatment of waste would help divert millions of tonnes of WEEE from landfill.

WEEE Directive

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is an EU based initiative and aims to raise awareness of recycling electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and encourage designers to develop products with more efficient recycling in mind at the end of the product life. The WEEE Directive is a not a "single market" directive but establishes minimum criteria for the collection of EEE which will be implemented in each EU country, and legislation is being set up in each member state now.

Manufacturers and importers ("producers") of EEE are responsible for compliance with the WEEE legislation. The producer has an obligation to arrange and finance the collection, treatment, recycling and environmentally safe disposal of WEEE.

RoHS Directive

The RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) is a parallel initiative to WEEE and aims to restrict the use of certain known hazardous materials during the manufacture of EEE. The removal of hazardous substances at source will clearly derive environmental benefits when the EEE requires disposal at the end of its serviceable life.

The increased availability and affordability of electrical and electronic products over the last couple of decades coupled with their shorter life cycle has been a significant driver for legislation which demands the use of more environmentally friendly materials.

Unlike WEEE, RoHS is a "single market" directive which aims to remove disparities across member states. Implementation of the Directive is set for July 2006.

The RoHS Directive defines six hazardous substances as being Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent Chromium (Cr (VI)), Polybrominated Bi-phenyls (PBB's) and Polybrominated Di-phenyl Ethers (PBDE's). While the industry has generally adopted the terminology of "lead-free", this represents an incomplete reflection of the true picture. Similarly, whilst much debate surrounds these materials complete elimination from EEE in reality this is not possible and the Directive talks about their permissible maximum concentration values within a homogeneous material.

It is the responsibility of all producers of EEE to certify that their equipment is RoHS compliant