It would appear that some of us are talking at cross-purposes. I quote
below an article which I wrote recently for a technical journal:
I was recently shocked to the core! In fact, I'll use this column to cry
SCANDAL. And what, may you ask, has caused this outcry? At the time of
writing (it may have changed since), the proposed European Directive on
Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, the infamous WEEE, which
is due to enter into force this year, and which proposes, amongst other
things, to ban lead in solder as from 1 January 2008, is based on
entirely false premisses.
Let it be said that I fully support its proposals for recycling, at
least for those components which can be recycled. I also support the
notion that European member-nations organise free household collection
of waste electrical and electronic equipment, although I hae ma doots
about the enforcement of the proposed minimum of six kilograms per
household per year. That having been said, I believe that at least 95
percent of the lead in solder can be easily and even economically
recovered and recycled (somewhat less with the tin). As the electronics
industry consumes, in solder, only 0.5 percent of all the lead mined,
that means that only 5 percent of 0.5 percent will remain on the bits
and pieces left for disposal, truly a negligible quantity, so why ban
the stuff?
However, be that as it may, I cannot cry scandal over that, even though
there are grounds for disagreement. What I can cry scandal about is that
this proposed directive is purported to be necessary to protect the
environment. I am all for the protection of the environment. But what I
have discovered is that no scientific risk assessment of the presence of
lead in electronics waste has been conducted nor has there been any
assessment of the environmental consequences of replacing tin-lead
solder with other alloys. Now, what exactly does this mean? It means
that our industry is being conned by technocrats and politicians (not to
mention vested interests who have been very vociferous) into complying
with measures that will have undoubted negative technical and economical
effects, for no reason at all. Worse still, it can be shown that there
will be undoubted serious negative effects on the environment, which the
persons who are proposing these measures have never even started to
consider, while the positive effects are practically negligible.
Unfortunately, space does not permit me to expand all of these in detail
but we can cite, for example:
- increased global warming (an estimated conservative global increase of
125 –150 MWh of electricity will be consumed annually due to higher
soldering temperatures)
- increased water pollution (the presence of lead salts in cleaning and
rinsing is a good guarantor that water treatment is properly carried out
by both PCB fab and assembly shops: in some countries, there are no
regulations for tin salts)
- increased destruction of tropical rain forests (alluvial tin ore
extraction in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil requires clearing of the
primary tropical rain forests, with a concomitant risk of loss of
species, because the quantity of tin required for electronics solder
will increase by 50 percent)
Unfortunately, this list is not even exhaustive. Precautionary
principles are noble, on condition that they are founded on a reasonable
risk assessment. This has not been done. This is a scandal that must be
shouted from every rooftop in our industry.
End of quotation
What I fear is that the PCB Fab guys are not bothered by the
implications on the PCB Assembly ones (and vice versa). We have to take
a "cradle-to-grave" approach. This means from the moment the tin ore
(etc.) is collected to the moment that the equipment, having served its
normal lifetime of use is landfilled/incinerated. WEEE does not do this,
nor do some correspondents here. Let us take off our blinkers and look
beyond our small world of immediate activity, to see there is a much
larger one outside.
Brian
Harvey Miller wrote:
>
> March 22, 2001
>
> Dear Electronics Industry Colleagues,
>
> The IPC through its President, Dennis McGuirk, has stated, "banning lead is
> not based on good science", (EPP, Jan2001, pg 34). With regard to banning
> lead in solder for electronics specifically, in the final analysis it is
> clearly a bad choice both for the electronics industry and for the
> environment.
> While one can easily agree with President McGuirk's assessment, it seems
> logical that we need a more pro-active policy actively opposing a misguided
> initiative that by all appearances is primarily motivated by marketing
> opportunism and pays little heed to the needs of the environment or the
> overall impact of lead-free on it.
> The IPC, as the leading trade association representing the electronic
> interconnection industry, should do more in leading the way for science-based
> risk assessment. To that end we are suggesting a modification to the current
> position statement of the IPC as adopted by the board of directors.
>
> If you are in support of this premise and are interested in obtaining a copy
> of the present IPC position statement and a copy of the proposed alternative
> statement, please respond.
>
> Note that this is primarily an individual based effort and it is based on
> individual conscience and their desire to see that the full impact of
> lead-free be fully, fairly, honestly and scientifically evaluated before we
> proceed further down this unproven path.
>
> Joe Fjelstad and Harvey Miller
>
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