Why are we worrying about the lead in electronics assemblies leaching into the ground water from dumps,
when we shouldn't be throwing our electronic consumables there in the first place.  Our global societies
and various governments would be better off putting their efforts towards research in recycling.   Wouldn't
it be great if it were more efficient to recycle all of the metals contained in these assemblies rather
than mining and refining replacement materials from our limited natural resources?  I guess when our
descendents start running out of natural resources they can start mining our dumps.

   There... I feel a lot better.  I'll get off my soapbox now.

Gary Camac



David Whalley wrote:

> Bobb,
>
> >The lead in the "dumps" issue concerns the dissolution of the lead component
> >of solder into ground water.
>
> The draft European WEEE legislation proposes prevention of electronic
> equipment
> being consigned to landfill. An additional ban on the use of lead solder
> therefore
> cannot be justified for this reason. There are also existing technologies
> for the
> recovery of the lead from the solder in obsolete electronic hardware.
>
> >The Good News is that there's already
> >off-the-shelf practical solutions.
>
> All of the proposed replacements are significantly more expensive than
> tin/lead.
> Most also require a higher reflow temperature and hence greater energy costs.
> There are also issues regarding the reliability of the alternative alloys. As
> far as I am aware no cost/benefit analysis has been undertaken to justify a
> ban,
> but as usual the European Commission does not regard factual evidence
> neccessary
> before it drafts legislation.
>
> David Whalley
>
> >>     I heard from recent discussions with my German counterpart, that in
> >>     Europe, they are eliminating the Lead in the solder process. This is
> >>     becasue of environmental impact studies that Lead content for any type
> >>     of scrap material being in the PCB's to conponents leaves a certain
> >>     percentage of lead in the "Dumps".
> >>
> >>     If anyone can shed any light on this subject I would appreciate it.
>
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