Non-Toxic Computers Coming Soon: The RoHS Deadline
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 06.23.06
We should be seeing some non-toxic computers coming soon, in reponse to the RoHS deadline which goes in effect on July 1. RoHS is a "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive" from the Eueropean Union. The EU directive requires lead free electronics in personal computers, as well as banning mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). So which computer manufacturers are the producing least toxic PCs so far?
Well, last year Tobisha made a strike at this title by releasing it's Terca PCs (pictured here) that were RoHS compliant (see more details in this previous post).
Apple has made an announcement, saying "most of the materials covered by the RoHS directive, including mercury, cadmium, chromium VI and brominated flame retardants, were voluntarily eliminated from all Apple products years ago." However, Apple recently had to pull a number of products from European selves recently, due to RoHS non-compliance. Apple's iSight, AirPort Base Station With Modem, AirPort Base Station Power Over Ethernet & Antenna, iPod shuffle External Battery Pack, and all versions of the company's eMac will be withdrawn, according to AppleInsider.
Other manufacturers that have made progress towards eliminating toxins are Dell, Fujitsu and NEC.
Apple states on their website that they did not yet remove brominated flame retardants from all of their components.
Please check http://www.apple.com/environment/materials/
Some manufacturers state that they removed brominated flame retardants and make it sound like they are removed from all components. On their websites, they state that they were removed from the plastic parts of the computer case, but not from the electronics.
ROHS bans the use of PBDE (Polybrominated-diphenylethers), but those substance have been widely eliminated for many years. Some plastic components like the cabling of a power supply might have included some of them.
ROHS does not restrict the use of TBBPA (Tetrabromobisphenol-A). There is about an ounce of that on every single motherboard. Some website make believe that TBBPA is harmless, some say it is "less toxic", but it is the same substance that was just recently in the news, bisphenol-A, that has been linked to prostate cancer. See my blog.greenmachineshop.com for more information.
To my knowledge only Fujitsu-Siemens has a line of motherboards that are free from brominated flame retardants. These are the motherboards we build into our computers. If you are interested to find out more about toxins, carcinogens, flame retardants, you might be interested into our free e-class on www.greenmachineshop.com
Excellent! Can't wait until all manufacturers comply fully.
The alternative chemicals used in RoHS compliant products may be more toxic than those banned, or the toxicity of the alternatives is unknown and unproven.
The lead-free solder paste that must be used in newer products (used to hold chips and components to the circuit boards) melts at a higher temperature and so more energy is required in the manufacture of the PCBs.
Re-working and fixing older products will be economically unviable, so rather than having your old stuff fixed or recycled it will be cheaper to buy a new one, which is financially neat, but not so good for the enviroment, as it does mean chucking out something with 'toxic chemicals' that could otherwise be repaired and re-used.
There's a big problem with eliminating lead use in the construction of new computers; tin whiskers, or metallic crystals that grow on nearly all metal computer components that are not protected with a lead-based alloy. The failures caused by this phenomenon may be acceptable in consumer laptops, but we need a decent replacement for lead before this can be extended to more important components, such as pacemakers, satellites, aircraft and the like.
And the tin whiskers problem is just the tip of the iceburg...
Don't expect China or any other "evolving economy" to stick to RoHS requirements. Guess where all your commercial electronics are now manufactured?...
re. china post above.
are you aware of the Chinese "Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products"
http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/policyrelease/domesticpolicy/200605/20060502132549.html