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Getting the lead out / European rules force electronics companies to clean up,
Birgitta Forsberg, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 20, 2005
Like the gas in your car, your next cell phone and computer are likely to be lead-free.
What's more, you very well might be able to dispose of that phone and computer at no cost, taking advantage of free recycling programs offered by the manufacturers.
Technology and consumer electronics companies are going greener, and much of the credit goes to the European Union. A series of laws and regulations put in place by the 25-nation consortium is changing the way tech companies do business.
Despite weaker laws in the United States, many Silicon Valley companies are working hard to meet new European Union rules on such matters as electronics recycling, toxic substances and chemicals. The EU's stringent recycling standard, requiring manufacturers to reuse electronics waste, is being phased in and will be fully in effect by the end of 2006.
The directive on toxic substances in electronics gear bans lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two types of brominated flame retardants beginning July 1, 2006. The rule on chemicals, not yet completed, will force companies to register compounds and test them for safety.
The new EU regulations are changing the entire market. Big U.S. exporting companies are expected to adopt EU standards in all of their products, not just those sold in Europe.
"This is another side of the global economy, when high environmental standards have an effect outside EU's borders," Dell spokesman Bryant Hilton said.
Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, introduced a lead-free flash memory program in Japan a year ago. Dell, headquartered in Texas, is rolling out a free recycling program in more and more countries, partly in an effort to meet EU regulations.
Santa Clara's Intel declined to say how much this compliance with EU regulations is costing.
"We spend billions of dollars on R&D every year, and this is rolled up in that," spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.
A major concern among technology companies is the ban on lead, which the Environmental Protection Agency has determined to be a highly toxic substance.
"Everybody that puts a part on our product, like Intel and Texas Instruments, uses lead to glue it on," said David Lear, Hewlett-Packard's director of Environmental Strategies and Sustainability. HP, based in Palo Alto, has more than 7,000 suppliers.
"We have people that anticipate legislative changes, and we have been prepared for lead-free products for years, but the trick is that our entire supply chain has to do the transition to lead-free at the same time," Lear said. "It is as if all of a sudden in the U.S., we would decide to drive on the other side of the road, like in England."
Lead is being replaced by an alloy of copper and tin that melts at a higher temperature and is therefore not suited for use with lead. Although there are exemptions to the EU ban, experts say the European rules will shrink the market for lead products in mainstream electronics, causing the price to rise and eventually making lead products obsolete.
While their Japanese competitors have been at the forefront in manufacturing lead-free products, many U.S. companies have been lagging. But the EU's toxic legislation is forcing Silicon Valley companies to adapt.
The European electronics industry is seeking exemptions from the lead ban for certain products, which could give some U.S. companies a respite.
"We will work hard to meet the deadline, but it depends on what regulators do with respect to exemptions," Intel's Mulloy said.
The semiconductor industry is among the tech sector's heaviest users of chemicals and toxic substances.
A series of lawsuits filed over many years has alleged that some of the substances caused worker health problems, such as cancer. And in the 1980s, it was discovered that several tech companies had underground storage tanks that leaked toxic solvents into the groundwater. In a south San Jose area affected by the leaks, the state Health Department found that children were more likely to be born with holes in the heart, Down syndrome, deformed genitalia and webbed toes, but investigators could not establish any direct link to the leaks.
When the EU chemical directive known as REACH comes into effect, companies doing business in Europe will have to register the substances they use and check them for safety. The chemical industry has fought REACH bitterly, and European environmentalists consider the latest draft watered down.
Other economic powers are following the EU's lead. China has adopted laws similar to EU's toxics directive and is considering electronics recycling legislation.
"For us, it is good to hear. We want a harmonized standard," HP's Lear said.
Some California lawmakers are closely watching the EU. Two years ago, Sen. Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto, since retired, and Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, requested a report on chemical policy options from UC Berkeley. The report is due at the end of February.
The report was inspired in part by REACH and in part by environmental problems, such as the identification of hundreds of synthetic chemicals in breast milk, according to the report's lead author, Michael Wilson, an assistant research scientist at Berkeley.
"California is a large economic player in the world, and yet we don't know what chemicals are being used, how they are used, what volumes are used and how the public is exposed," he said. "The lack of information is startling. "
The European Union's environmental rules
-- Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive (known as WEEE): Producers will have to recover and reuse separately collected electrical and electronics waste. By the end of 2006, EU member states will have to collect at least 4 kilograms per inhabitant annually.
-- Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronics equipment (ROHS): The regulation bans lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two types of brominated flame retardants, PBB and PBDE, in consumer, technology and other products beginning July 1, 2006.
-- Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH): The regulation, still not finalized, will require companies to register chemicals and test them for safety.