1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Appendix G
Appendix G. Building Blocks for Environmental Tradeoff Assessments to
Support DFE—A Sample of European Projects
Increasing pressure for more environmentally conscious processes and products comes in a
variety of forms: legislation, eco-labeling, environmental auditing, and customer requirements,
for example. 20 Each of these drivers will likely require that materials and processes be assessed.
These assessments may either ensure that the best known options are being exercised, or point to
some needed changes in materials and/or manufacturing processes.
The search for alternative materials or processes is usually complicated. It is often simpler to determine
what not to use than it is to weigh alternatives, each of which might be legally and technically
viable, but which may have undesirable environmental consequences. As discussed in
Chapter 4, many companies are at the stage of discovering how to measure the tradeoffs for
design for the environment (DFE)—determining what metrics to use in their assessments. A
critical element for the decisions that results from such analyses is qualitative data, which is often
not readily available. In some cases, companies may be facing tasks for which there is little
support or infrastructure.
This appendix will present examples of activities in Europe that are providing support for the infrastructure
necessary for environmental assessments. The goal of this section is not to present
the findings, or evaluate the quality, of the studies. Rather, it is to briefly describe four efforts—
three in Scandinavia and one Belgium—that provide the electronics industry with the type of
information necessary for eventual DFE-based practices.
Danish Environmental Protection Agency
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA) financed a joint research project to investigate
environmentally problematic substances and materials in electronic equipment. As part of
the “Cleaner Technology and Products” national program, the DEPA and the Danish Electronics
Industry Association cooperated to provide quantitative data that would enable component
selections based on environmental impact. The DEPA hopes that the resulting inventory data
will better enable optimal disposition decisions for electronic equipment and that the tool will
simplify the environmental impact assessments of materials used in electronic components. 21 An
important issue that came out of the study was the need for improved communication and data
transfer between materials and component suppliers and the electronic product manufacturer.
The project had four technical phases: preliminary investigation, component analyses, environmental
specifications, and product materials flow analyses. Researchers concentrated on passive
20 In Europe, a variety of drivers already exist: EC Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment, (EIA, Official
Journal 1985 L 175, pg. 40), Draft Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (OJ 1993 C
311/6); EC Ecolabelling Scheme (OJ 1992 L 99/1); EC Eco-Management and Audit Regulation (OJ 1993 L
168/1); EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (OJ 1994 365/10); and the German Law on Recycling
and Waste (Kr-/AbfG; BGB1, 1994 I/2705) to be implemented in 1996.
21 The study findings are available in four different reports, some in Danish and some in English. For information
on the reports, contact the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Tel:
45 32 66 01 00. Reference the Miljoprojekt nr. 289, 1995.
239