Coming clean

Designing with the environment in mind is suddenly right at the centre of the public debate as global warming concentrates everyone’s minds on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The electronics industry has, for some time, been shepherded gently towards greater consideration of its environmental impact. And rightly so, because the industry has used some fairly unpleasant materials in the past in the manufacture of its products, although unwittingly. Two recent European Directives have focused the industry’s mind more sharply. The Reduction of Hazardous Substances Directive – RoHS – has moved the industry away from lead based components and supplies, as well as banning other heavy metals and compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls. Meanwhile, the Government has recently – at last, some would say – laid regulations before Parliament to cover the introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, WEEE. Now, product manufacturers will have to take responsibility for end of life recovery from 1 July of this year. You could be forgiven for thinking those two Directives would cover most environmental aspects of electronics design. But you’d be wrong. Environmental design is now extending to cover the whole design and manufacturing process. And the forthcoming Energy Using Products Directive – EUP – will require further consideration of how companies approach design.