WEEE & RoHS Directives – Our environmental
responsibility
New EU legislation comes into force over the next twelve months which relates
to the disposal of electrical/electronic waste and the elimination of substances
defined as hazardous from all products sold within the EU. The two new European
directives will introduce new environmental responsibilities for manufacturers,
importers, retailers and distributors of electronic and electrical equipment
and components.
RoHS (Restriction of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic
equipment) which will take effect from July 1 st 06 and WEEE (Waste electrical
and electronic equipment) which will start the 1 st of August 06, after which
time it will be illegal to sell or dispose of equipment containing more than
the maximum agreed level of these defined substances within the EU.
RoHS
The RoHS directive will ban the placing of new electrical equipment which contains
more than the maximum level of certain chemicals into the EU market. The chemicals
in question have been defined as lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium,
polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDD) flame
retardants.
However there are a number of exempted applications for these substances such
as some military applications, medical devices and monitoring &control instruments.
However if you are un-sure you should seek advise direct from the DTI’s
web site.
WEEE
The WEEE directive encourages and sets criteria for the collection, treatment,
recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment, it makes
producers responsible for financing most of these activities (‘termed producer
responsibility’). Armadillo Electronics as of now will observe all these
requirements with the sale and disposal of it’s own stocks.
As a key partner in the supply chain Armadillo electronics is obliged to minimise
it’s own risks with regard to legal liability and cannot sign compliance
declarations on it’s own. However this legal position not withstanding,
we will do everything necessary to help our customers with compliance. We will
discuss and assist in the usage of Pb free product taking account of technical
usability and backwards compatibility when guaranteed by manufacturers and will
seek information on availability of new lead free products when required by our
customers.
We will also seek your structured feedback to align ourselves with your requirements
for purchasing on your behalf, sourcing all relevant compliance declarations
from Manufacturers when required.
For your environmental solutions or if you have any further questions
please call and speak to a member of our sales team on 0845 060 4000.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/ |
