BAN, RoHS, WEEE, and EPEAT


	Reasons for Hope BAN, RoHS, WEEE, and EPEAT There are a number of different governmental and non-governmental organizations, treaties, and accords to deal with the disposal of toxic materials and to promote the manufacturing of greener electronic devices. As mentioned on the previous page, the Basel Convention prohibits the shipping of hazardous waste to developing countries. Unfortunately, the United States of America has not signed onto the Basel Convention despite the fact that U.S. businesses and individuals dispose of approximately 133,000 computers each day [38]. However, Seattle WA is the home of the Basel Action Network (BAN), an NGO and project of Earth Economics. BAN operates in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia for the purpose of dealing with the environmental and economic problems and inefficiencies of the global trade in toxic and hazardous materials. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) was adopted by the European Union and all member nations in 2006 and restricts the use of the following substances in the manufacturing of electronics: • lead, • mercury, • cadmium, • hexavalent chromium, • polybrominated biphenyls, • polybrominated diphenyl ethers [39]. In conjunction with the RoHS is the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) which encourages manufactures to design electrical products with reuse and ease of recycling in mind. Also, the producers of WEEE are required to take back their products from consumers free of charge when the product has reached the end of its life [40]. The WEEE Man (pictured right) is a sculpture created from the amount of electronic waste that the average U.K. citizen in 2006 was expected to throw away in his or her lifetime [41]. Finally, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) “is an environmental procurement tool designed to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebook computers and monitors based on their environmental attributes” [42]. EPEAT lists the computer products of participating companies according to bronze, silver, and gold standards where a rating of bronze means that a product meets 23 minimum criteria such as being in compliance with the RoHS directive, while a gold rated product meets the 23 minimum criteria plus at least 75% of the optional criteria [43]. A high ranking on the EPEAT list is a powerful marketing tool for computer manufacturers as it makes their products more appealing to individual, green conscious consumers and to large corporate or institutional customers who can see significant energy savings from small gains in efficiency multiplied by thousands of computers. Conclusion We exist in an information society and are, in many cases, dependent upon our information technology to work, socialize, and even live. Yet, as we have seen, our information technology has serious, detrimental effects on our environment and upon people living in developing countries. The problems of energy consumption, GHG emissions and the high, environmental and human costs of e-waste have all come into sharp focus over the past decade and will continue to do so as we race to find ways to reduce our consumption and deal with the waste we have already created. Given the challenges we face, the greening of IT is only beginning.
The Greening of Information Technology LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology, School of Library, Archival and Information Science, University of British Columbia Neil MacDonald November 17th, 2008