Lead-Free or Die!

摘要

In case you've been living in a plastic bubble, the European Union passed two mandates. The Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment (WEEE) Directive requires manufacturers to deposit cash covering costs incurred in the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of electronic waste beginning June 30, 2005. The EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive restricts usage of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in electronic products as of July 1, 2006. Simply put, the WEEE Directive regulates how products being replaced by electronics end users must be collected, treated, recycled or reused while the RoHS legislation targets reduction and restriction of hazardous substances in new products.