Links to Green Resources Web Sites
Environmental Design
Environmental considerations are becoming increasingly important when it comes to the design, manufacture and recycling of electronic products.
Several new European Environmental Directives will transform the responsibilities and legal requirements of designers and producers of electrical products, and these regulations are set to become significantly more stringent over the coming years.
Apart from the legal requirements to make the transition to ‘Green’ designs, there is also significant commercial justification.
Most leading companies are reviewing their impact on the environment and they are becoming increasingly environmentally aware. This means that many buying decisions must comply with environmental policies, and suppliers and products are selected on environmental credentials.
The Anglia Green Pages website has been set up to help electronic designers adapt to this new frontier in design.
As well as offering a portal to resources that help you comply with new legislation, we offer a practical solution to eco-design by profiling ‘green’ electronic components and the latest technologies and techniques that will help you minimise the environmental impact of your designs.
Are you ready for the EuP Directive?
The need to integrate environmental design and compliance into your New Product Design process is becoming more urgent
The EcoDesign Requirements for Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive came into force in August 2007 and provides a framework for setting EcoDesign requirements for any group of products which use energy. EcoDesign requirements for the first fifteen product groups are currently being drawn up, another five product groups are ongoing and the list of the next twenty five product groups to be targeted for action is currently being finalized. The first implementing measures came into force in January 2008.
Lighting, IT and consumer electronics sectors are amongst the first industry sectors to be directly affected. Some future product groups will affect huge sections of the European electronics industry. For example, group 6 addresses standby and off-mode losses of electrically powered devices, and group 7 tackles battery chargers and external power supplies. See www.eup-ecodesign.com for details.
EC EuP Eco-Directive - Europe
EuP EcoDesign Web Site
WEEE: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
What is it?
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive came into force in January 2007 and aims to both reduce the amount of WEEE being produced and encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover it. The WEEE Directive also aims to improve the environmental performance of businesses that manufacture, supply, use, recycle and recover electrical and electronic equipment.
If you are an importer, rebrander or manufacturer of new electrical or electronic equipment then it’s likely that you will need to comply with the UK’s WEEE Regulations, which in part implement the WEEE Directive. If you do need to comply, then you must register on a producer compliance scheme.
You may also have obligations under the WEEE Regulations if you are a business with electrical/electronic equipment to dispose of, or if you sell electrical or electronic equipment.
Environment Agency WEEE Directive Information
Batteries Directive
The UK and all other EU Member States have a deadline of 26 September 2008 to transpose the provisions of The Batteries Directive into national law. Battery producers, who include manufacturers and importers of equipment that contain batteries, are responsible for financing the recycling of batteries at the end of their life. Other countries outside the EU have also introduced their own measures that affect batteries.
defra Batteries Directive Information
Packaging Waste Regulations
The Packaging Waste Regulations work on the principle of Shared Producer Responsibility, encouraging producers to take responsibility for their environmental impact. The Regulations require obligated producers to pay a proportion of the cost of the recovery and recycling of their packaging.
defra Packaging & Packaging Waste Information
