Assessing the replacement of lead in solders: effects on resource use and human health

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Almeida, C.M.V.B. , Madureira, M.A., Bonilla, S.H., Giannetti, B.F.
Programa de Pós - Graduação em Engenharia de Produção da Universidade Paulista, Rua Dr Bacelar 1212, Mirandópolis, 04026-002 São Paulo, Brazil
Abstract
Human health and environmental concerns are not usually considered at the same time. Tin-lead solders are still widely used in several countries, including Brazil, by manufacturers of electronic assemblies. One of the options to reduce or eliminate lead from the manufacturing environment is its replacement with lead-free alloys. This paper applies emergy synthesis and the DALY indicator (Disability Adjusted Life Years) to assess the impact of manufacturing soft solder using tin, lead and other metals on the environment and on human health. The results are presented together with the company's financial results and the results calculated from the Brazilian statistical value of life. The calculation of emergy per unit showed that more resources are used to produce one ton of lead-free solders than to produce one ton of tin-lead solders, with and without the use of consumer waste recovered through a reverse logistics system. The assessment of air emissions during solder production shows that the benefits of the lead-free solution are limited to the stages of manufacturing and assembling. The tin-lead solder appears as the best option in terms of resource use efficiency and with respect to emissions into the atmosphere when the mining stage is included. A discussion on the influence of the system's boundaries on the decision-making process for materials substitution is presented.


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Assessment of the effects of the Japanese shift to lead-free solders and its impact on material substitution and environmental emissions by a dynamic material flow analysis

Lead-free electronics has been extensively studied, whereas their adoption by society and their impact on material substitution and environmental emissions are not well understood. Through a material flow analysis (MFA), this paper explores the life cycle flows for solder-containing metals in Japan, which leads the world in the shift to lead-free solders in electronics. The results indicate that the shift has been progressing rapidly for a decade, and that substitutes for lead in solders, which include silver and copper, are still in the early life cycle stages. The results also show, however, that such substitution slows down during the late life cycle stages owing to long electronic product lifespans. This deceleration of material substitution in the solder life cycle may not only preclude a reduction in lead emissions to air but also accelerate an increase in silver emissions to air and water. As an effective measure against ongoing lead emissions, our scenario analysis suggests an aggressive recycling program for printed circuit boards that utilizes an existing recycling scheme.


Science of the Total Environment
Volume 438, 1 November 2012, Pages 49-58



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South Korea moves ahead with “K-REACH” proposals

Chemical Watch: Draft Act expected to affect 3,000 companies and at least 2,000 substances

Conflict Minerals Resources for the Electronics Industry | IPC

IPC Conflict meinerals: Below you will find an array of resources and tools that may help your company move in a positive direction towards compliance. While a final conflict minerals regulation has not been published, the electronics industry is rapidly implementing compliance measures to ensure expeditious compliance once a final regulation is published. Should you have any questions or need further information please contact Fern Abrams, IPC Director, Government Relations and Environmental Policy at 1 703-522-0225.

We can run a short story on what IPC position and activities are on behalf of the US electronics industry.

Some of the background data is in the links on this page. In particular the role of the EICC is important.

We should also add something about what ITRI are doing too (iTSCi scheme)

http://www.itri.co.uk/index.php?option=com_zoo&view=item&Itemid=189

We can add a picture of a happy miner...

Electronic waste: EU adopts new WEEE law

BBC News: The European Parliament has passed a new law to curb dumping of electronic goods such as mobile phones, computers and TV sets in landfill sites.

From 2016 EU member states will have to collect 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes of electronic goods put on sale during the previous three years.

By 2019 the target must rise to 65 tonnes, or member states can opt to collect 85% of total e-waste generated.

Conflict Minerals & the SEC

LinkedIn: Conflict Minerals & the SEC ebnonline.com
What does the delay in issuing rules governing the implementation of conflict mineral laws mean for the electronics industry?

Tony Hilvers, IPC

IPC to Develop Data Exchange Standard for Conflict Minerals Regulation

IPC: IPC will begin development of a data exchange standard to help the electronics manufacturing industry comply with forthcoming U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations on conflict minerals at a kickoff meeting on September 22, 2011, held in conjunction with IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition, Schaumburg, Ill.

The IPC data exchange standard will build upon the due diligence communication tool recently released by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and utilize the sophistication of an XML schema incorporated in the IPC-175x family of IPC standards. As an ANSI-accredited standards development organization, IPC will seek input from a broad stakeholder group, beginning with the kickoff meeting at IPC Midwest.

Calumet Electronics to begin Conflict Minerals Initiative

EMSNow: Calumet believes that it is critical to begin now to perform meaningful due diligence with respect to conflict minerals. Calumet's Conflict Mineral Initiative will facilitate useful disclosures to customers and suppliers to meet Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The initiative features:
-- Establish strong company management systems based on industry standards;
-- Identify and assess risk in the interconnect industry supply chain;
-- Design and implement a strategy to respond to and report identified risks;
-- Report on supply chain due diligence.

Global Life Cycle Impact Assessments of Material Shifts: The Example of a Lead-free Electronics Industry

Amazon.co.uk: Books: "Global Life Cycle Impact Assessments of Material Shifts describes the environmental implications of this shift to lead-free solders and conductive adhesives using the standardized methodology of environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA). As the product systems involved are rather small for interconnection materials it is possible – using uncertainty analysis and consequential LCA – to arrive at robust conclusions, even in the difficult holistic field of environmental cost accounting.

The lead-free shift has many implications, such as the export of electronics waste, resource consumption, recycling issues, and technology development. LCA is rapidly developing to include more and more impact assessment, and refined weighting methods. In the end, the goal is to be able to quantify the environmental consequences of decisions and this book presents tools, data, and methodologies in detail.

It provides an understanding of current technological shifts and the potential environmental consequences, along with several illustrative examples. Global Life Cycle Impact Assessments of Material Shifts will benefit engineers and environmental experts within the electronics and materials industry, enabling them to assess the environmental costs of their own product systems."

Conflict free smelter program

ITRI: "Two electronics industry organisations - the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) - have launched their Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program, as part of industry's efforts in response to the conflict minerals provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 passed earlier this year. The minerals covered in the law — coltan (columbite-tantalite, a source of tantalum), cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten) and gold — are used in various industrial, consumer and electronics products and the CFS program focuses on tantalum and tin"

The true cost of your new Christmas laptop? Ask the eastern Congolese

UTV News: "Eastern Congo's hell is an instance of how globalisation generates ungovernable spaces. Where there is a collision of desperate poverty, plentiful guns and a world greedy for natural resources, a brutal chaos results. To combat that, it takes a very tenacious sort of global campaigning – bringing to attention each element of the system and the part it can play in leveraging change – and mercifully, that is what is now finally starting to happen.

guardian.co.uk Guardian News and Media 2010"

Tech firms rapped on conflict minerals

PC Pro: "Technology firms including Toshiba, Panasonic and Canon have been criticised for failing to eliminate so-called 'blood minerals' from their products.

Charity Enough ranked HP top for its work to prevent buying minerals from conflict zones in eastern Congo. Enough said the trade in conflict minerals 'provides the primary fuel for the conflict.'"

One Step at a Time on Conflict Minerals

January/February 2011 IPC Review: "On behalf of the industry, IPC submitted comprehensive pre-proposal comments to the SEC in November to help shape practical regulations that can be implemented and that support legitimate mines and activities of the DRC. These recommendations include:

Timing: Because industry efforts are still in their infancy and because the DRC government has shut down access to some mines, it is highly unlikely that a full scale-up of these programs will be possible by the April 2011 deadline. The SEC should use its discretion to implement a phased-in approach to the regulations requiring OEMs to declare whether the minerals used in their products are conflict-free or not."

Is Your Mobile Device or Laptop Funding Conflict Mineral Wars?

TIME.com: "A recent report from Enough Project ranked the top 21 electronics manufacturers, showing their progress in creating products with conflict-free minerals and the steps they've taken to ensure that. Leading the pack was HP with an over 30 percent improvement. The company has endorsed anti-conflict mineral legislation and advocates for strong US regulations for all manufacturers

Apple, who uses tantalum not only in their smartphones but in iPods as well, were given a yellow score, which means there is much room for improvement. (Though several of their top executives have spoken out against conflict mineral mining in the Congo, they did not weigh in on key US conflict mineral legislation.) Toshiba received the worst score of the bunch; they have barely made any changes at all according to the study"

The death toll of the blood minerals inside your PC

PC Pro: "“The industry is so price-conscious that no-one really wants to increase costs by eliminating a major source for these rare-earth elements,” said IDC’s Palma. “I think the lack of global regulatory enforcement will allow OEMs to say they do not know the source of the material, or rather that they do not believe they are using the subject materials from restricted areas.”



This ignorance-is-bliss approach is already gaining ground among IT suppliers. For example, Cabot – a major producer of tantalum – has made efforts to address the issues, but says it will “not knowingly purchase any material mined in the Congo”. Dell also used the “not knowingly” caveat.

“I think this act will have little real impact beyond causing an additional amount of paperwork and legal costs for the industry, with a negligible impact on costs to consumers,” said Palma."

IPC Criticizes Greenpeace Electronics Guide

EMS007 : "'In addition, IPC, on behalf of our members, is extremely concerned about Greenpeace's tactics in penalizing companies for ‘failing to openly support restrictions on ... brominated flame retardants (BFRs)....' In fact, Greenpeace provides specific wording it would like to see companies use in calling for an expansion of the RoHS Directive to include the ban of BFRs.

'Demonizing certain substances without a scientific basis can lead industries to adopt substances that have a greater environmental impact or that cause resources to be inefficiently used. IPC calls on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and regulators to adopt scientific principles in the evaluation and banning of any chemicals and substances.'"

Assembleon joins sustainable electronics manufacturing working group

Global SMT and Packaging: "Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembleon’s CEO Andre Papoular has accepted the seat representing pick & place in the newly formed Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing (SEM) Working Group. The Working Group is a think tank for leading players in industrial manufacturing, and aims to improve the competitiveness of this industry by reducing its environmental impact"

The Working Group’s inaugural meeting was held at today’s Sustainability Summit (17 November, Milan), amidst sustainability experts and leading suppliers of electronic components, fabrication and assembly equipment and PCBs. It is organized by OnBoard Technology together with Sustainability Magazine, Global Identification, EMSNow, PLUS, PCB Magazine and other media partners.

“We are delighted to serve on the SEM Working Group, and are well placed to contribute,” remarked Papoular. “Assembléon sets the industry benchmark for efficient pick & place machine energy use. Our AX-Series consumes half the electricity of competitors’ machines, which reduces CO2 emissions and can save up to €10.000 in operating costs per pick & place machine per year. Translating energy efficiency into business benefits is very important in this industry. We are very pleased that our work has been noticed and has resulted in the invitation to represent the pick & place discipline in the Working Group.”

Proposed TSCA IUR rule specifically calls out electronics industry

EMSNow: "Electronics manufacturers who send byproducts and waste for recycling are included among the targets of a proposed rule from the EPA published on August 13.

The rule expands the reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) rule that requires manufacturers of chemical substances to report on the manufacturing, importation, processing, and use of those chemical substances. The EPA estimates it will cost each facility $48,700 and take 792 hours to comply with the proposed rule."

Canada proposes action against decaBDE and HBCD

Canada proposes action against decaBDE and HBCD: "Environment Canada has published a final revised risk management strategy for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) following the results of a final ecological state-of-the-science report on decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), which concludes that decaBDE may accumulate to high and problematic levels in organisms, and may transform into bioaccumulative and potentially bioaccumulative substances. The brominated flame retardant industry association..."

IPC Symposium to Highlight RoHS Revisions, Regulations

EMS007: "Workshops are scheduled preceding and following the symposium. On July 19, 2010, the workshop, Understanding the Fundamentals of the REACH Regulation, will provide a 'soup to nuts' primer that will serve as foundation for the symposium on July 20-21, 2010. On July 21, 2010, Understanding and Implementing IPC-1752A on Materials Declaration will cover new revisions to this industry standard for materials content data and will help attendees implement the changes in their companies.

For more information on the IPC Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, or tabletop and sponsorship opportunities, visit"