PCBs
Halogen-free products pose several cHallenges for suppliers
As OEMs continue to ask for halogen-free or low-halogen products, suppliers face several challenges including no common definition of low halogen, a lack of low-cost testmethods for verification, performance issues with alternative materials and highermaterial costs
By Fern Abrams, IPC director of environmental policy and government relations
Fern Abrams, IPC's director of environmental policy and government relations
Despite the questionable environmental benefits of reducing halogens,
continued non-governmental organization (NGO) pressure is making the reduction of halogens a significant goal for the electronics industry. In this article, we'll look at how and why NGOs are targeting halogens in electronics and some of the challenges facing the supply chain in reducing halogens in electronics.
NGOs fromGreenpeace to Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition have
made the reduction of halogens in electronics a key advocacy effort in the past few years. Through their electronics scorecard, Greenpeace has continued to increase public pressure on original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), especially those in the consumer electronics sector.
32 | April 2011 Last year, Greenpeace required companies to not only change
materials used in their product, but also lobby the European Union (EU) for the restriction of organochlorines and organobromines under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. Other groups spent 2010 pushing for the inclusion of halogenated flame retardants under the Electronics Purchasing Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standards. Throughout 2010, pressure on OEMs to reduce halogens in their products continued fromall directions.
Questionable environmental benefits
Claims by NGOs regarding the need to protect the environment by reducing halogens in electronics generally center on two arguments. The first argument, toxicity, claims that since a handful of halogenated substances are harmful to human health
www.electronics-sourcing.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52