eWaste, Recycling and Hazardous Substances

Question 1

what makes eWaste different? (4)

Answer 1

• E-waste is more toxic than other domestic waste streams, contains: lead, cadmium, mercury
• Flame retardants in PCBs and cases release dioxins if burnt
• E-waste also contains valuable stuff – gold, silver, platinum, rate earth metals, reusable components
• It is possible to recover 90% of base metals and 97% of precious metals used in electronic goods (not necessarily economically viable)

Question 2

What is the e-Waste industry value proposition? (3)

Answer 2

1. Compliance: ensure you meet laws regarding safe disposal
2. Risk mitigation: ensure you don’t unexpectedly become the victim of bad PR – ensure old data is disposed safely
3. Value recovery: things of value recovered from your e-waste can either be returned to you (re use) r sold and offset against your disposal bi

Question 3

What is the RoHS directive?

Reducing of harmful substances) (3

Answer 3

• Aims to make it easier and cheaper to safely recycle eWaste & reduces the impact of ewaste that is not properly disposed
• Places limits on the concentration of a number of controlled substances: Lead, mercury
• Maximum permitted concentration of 0.1% to any single substance that could be theoretically separated manually

Question 4

What is sectoral producer responsibility?

Answer 4

a. Producers pay into the pot proportional to their market share or every time a sale is made you pay into the pot.
b. Producers pay a tariff for goods they manufacture – this tariff is added to the pot to process it at the end-of-life
c. Goods are collected both through disposal sites and at point of sale
d. End-of-life processors claim from the pot as goods come to them
e. Drives down the overall cost due to economies of scale

Question 5

What is individual producer responsibility? definition, 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage

Answer 5

a. The specific company is responsible for the takeback and reuse/recycling of their own equipment
b. Advantage: it provides a direct economic incentive to companies to design with end-of-life, re-use and recyclability in mind. For example, designing so as to be easily disassembled
c. Disadvantages: it is harder to collect and route ewaste separately for each company, how to deal with waste belonging to companies which no longer exist>?

Question 6

What is the Basel Convention?

Answer 6

is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs).

• Consent must be given prior to receiving the products
• The ban is avoided by sending good as gifts or reuse/refurbishment – far too old for these purposes