N.E.P.D: Workshop 6

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NETWRK
for Electronic Products Design
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CfSD Conferences and Networks page. | NEPD Homepage | Online conference

NEPD2: Discussion on End-of-Life Management and Producer Responsibility

Feb 21st 1996
Facilitated by:

Martin Charter, The Centre For Sustainable Design
Dr. Jonathan Williams, REDI
Martin Houghton, REDI

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Below is a summary of an open discussion that arose at the second NEPD Workshop, held on 21st February 1996.

"Managing 'end-of-life' electronic products" was organised by the US Embassy on February 6th/7th and was sponsored by Motorola, Waste Management International and Rank Xerox. The event attracted considerable interest, with over 150 delegates attending.

Points arising included:

the lack of a coherent European Union policy in the electronics sector. This is not likely to be in place before 2000
a resulting emergence of national responses in place of this
the prime area of interest at present is 'end-of-life' management
there is a large range of stakeholder interests involved
these interests cross industrial sector boundaries
information is currently being provided by

ICER
EMERGE
working groups within industry associations

A key issue for companies will be the identification of environmental liabilities, both during production and at 'end-of-life'. Many companies are unaware of these risks and of their 'total costs' -- for instance, the hidden costs associated with the disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. Therefore, there is a need to identify, and 'design-out', as many liabilities as possible and at the earliest possible stages of design.
There is a need to raise awareness and change attitudes towards environmental issues in the electronics sector, notably:

waste: revenue-generation opportunities through re-use, recycling, etc:
partnership: in particular, the need for simple communications
throughout the supply chain, which includes

manufacturers
suppliers
government

It is difficult to make the purchasing arm in electronics companies aware of environmental issues, because of the 'hard-nosed' nature of the profession and the complexity of the supply chain -- multiple suppliers of multiple products.
It is difficult to perceive where the real pressures and liabilities are. Many small companies don't move on compliance issues until the last moment; and immediate-term pressures for large electronics companies seem at present (due to national legislation) to be related solely to packaging.
An important question: Is there such a thing as 'the electronics industry', or is there merely a loose collection of sub-sectors -- telecommunications, computers, etc -- each facing its own issues?
There seems to be a small group of highly specific eco-issues relating to waste disposal, including:

cathode ray tubes (CRT's)
printed circuit boards (PCB's)
lithium-containing batteries

Data collection is being driven by the corporate environmental reporting process -- but it is early days yet. There will be an increasing need to compare company and/or product-related information in order to benchmark performance against competitors; unless there is a concerted industry-wide response it will be difficult to set this up.
There seems to be no clearly-defined forum for stakeholders in the electronics sector to discuss the range of interests which exists in the supply chain. For instance, there appears to be no coordinated infrastructure for nationwide electronics recycling (however, here, a pilot project is being organised by Adur District Council in the UK).

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Some key questions:

Who are the major organisations involved in 'the process'?
What are their reasons for taking action?
Who has, or will have, the most 'end-of-life' liability?

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NEPD Homepage

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