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New Safety and Environmental Regulation of Electrical Goods in Europe
Between 2005 and 2007, important new regulations were brought into force in Europe. These regulations directly address two closely related goals:
- Reducing environmental contamination through the disposal of old electrical and electronic equipment by traditional methods such as land-fill and incineration.
- Further reducing the Environmental and Health and Safety impact from electrical and electronic equipment by reducing the hazardous content of those goods.
New laws have been created in each of the EU member states in response to two EU Directives:
- The “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (or WEEE) Directive” deals directly with the issue by making producers of electrical and electronic goods accountable and financially responsible for disposal, and by setting mandatory targets by weight, for recycling. (Directive 2002/96/EC)
- The “Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (or RoHS) Directive” tackles the issue by banning, in all but certain exempt applications, the use of certain chemicals or materials. (Directive 2002/95/EC)
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The RSA WEEE Man (London), 7 meters high,
is made from the amount of electronic waste
that an average UK citizen will throw away
during his/her lifetime (three tonnes).
Designed by Paul Bonomini.
© David Ramkalawon (photographer)
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Trend Communications is supportive of these Environmental Goals of the European Commission and has a policy of active compliance with the WEEE and RoHS directives
Categories of EEE
One of the first things that was needed for the WEEE directive was a definition of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).
Annex 1B of the directive grouped EEE into 10 categories:
- Large household appliances
- Small household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- Consumer equipment
- Lighting equipment
- Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary industrial tools)
- Toys, leisure and sports equipment
- Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected products)
- Monitoring and control instruments
- Automatic dispensers
Exemptions for Categories 8 & 9
When the RoHS directive was drafted it adopted the same 10 categories as the WEEE directive, but made two very important exceptions. Both Category 8 and 9 were to be exempted completely from the RoHS directive, at least at the start.
It was thought that the RoHS regulations might have an impact upon the reliability of electronic goods. Lead is one of the substances banned by RoHS but was in almost universal use in solders for electronics production. Lead-free solder is widely used now, but its reliability was not proven at the time these directives were drafted. The potential dangers of less reliable devices in medicine and the monitoring and control processes of industry at large were thought to outweigh the environmental benefits. In any case, the other 8 categories together account for the vast bulk of EEE, so this was felt to be a small concession. Provision was written-in to reconsider the inclusion of these two categories in the future, but this has not yet been done.
Trend’s Position
WEEE Directive
- Trend is headquartered in the UK and has European subsidiaries in Spain, France and Germany.
- Trend is an exclusive Business-to-Business supplier.
- Trend’s policy is to act in a European sense as regards WEEE.
- Trend Subsidiaries are registered as Producers in their home states.
- Trend products are WEEE compliant through the use of the Crossed-Out Wheelie-Bin label in all markets.
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In the UK: Trend Communications has formally registered as a producer of Electrical and Electronic Equipment through a legally approved compliance scheme called "B2B Compliance".
Our Unique Producer Registration Number, issued by the Environment Agency, is WEE/ED0049TZ. B2B Compliance takes on the legal responsibilities of the reporting on, collection and treatment of, all WEEE for which Trend Communications Ltd is obligated - and ensures that the appropriate recycling targets are met on this WEEE.
End users in the UK wishing to arrange for disposal of WEEE for which Trend is obligated may arrange this by visiting the b2bcompliance website. Once a user has registered on the site they can arrange collections of end of life equipment for which Trend is obligated at no cost to them. Alternatively UK end users may telephone the B2B operations team.
Web: http://b2bcompliance.evolutiondb.co.uk/
Tel: 01691 676124 (option 2)
In Spain: Trend Communications has joined a compliance scheme called ECOTIC. Trend Communications has registered with Spanish Ministry of Industry as a producer of Electrical and Electronic Equipment, with registration number 002201.
End users in Spain wanting to arrange collection of obligated WEEE should address their requests to:
FUNDACION ECOTIC Tel: 0934 194 048
Fax: 0934 194 567
e-mail: ecotic@ecotic.es
In Germany: Trend Communications has joined a compliance scheme called Stiftung Elektro-Altgeräte Aegister, Benno-Strauß-Straße 5D - 90763 Fürth. Trend Germany’s reference number is: DE 30324260
End users in Germany wishing to arrange for disposal of WEEE for which Trend is obligated should contact the Trend office
Tel: 089 323 009-51
In France: Trend Communications SA has registered with ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (http://www2.ademe.fr).
End users in France wishing to arrange for disposal of WEEE for which Trend is obligated should contact the Trend office
Tel: 016 935 5470
RoHS Directive
Trend’s products are all exclusively in Category 9 (Monitoring and Control Instruments), which are exempt from the RoHS Directive.
Nevertheless, it is our policy to move towards full compliance as soon as practicable.
In the move to lead-free solder, we have taken the following steps:
- All new products are designed to be fully lead-free.
- Existing Manufacturing plant and processes have been tested and proven to be lead-free capable.
- Existing Designs have been tested and proven to be lead-free capable subject only to the availability of lead-free versions of the components used.
- Current Component procurement is, where possible, exclusively lead-free.
Trend Communications’ final conversion to full lead-free status is dependent only upon the availability of lead-free components.
We note that Electronics Component Manufacturers are not yet able to meet these requirements in full.
Click here for Trend’s Official Policy on WEEE and RoHS: EP0002 Environmental Legislation policy statement.
Page updated: 8/02/2008
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