Recycling Eases Environmental Disposal

With the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) program and the new Energy Using Products (EuP) directive both calling for recycling, the electronics industry has a large challenge in front of it in terms of what to do with non-compliant components, products and chemicals.

Recycling in a variety of forms is one way many of the top semiconductor companies are dealing with the new regulations.

At Renesas Technology Corp., Shigeo Otaka, general manager of the company’s corporate environment and safety strategic planning office explained that recycling of semiconductors is difficult because semiconductors use thermosetting plastics that are used in packaging materials (mold material).

“For this reason, we don’t have any method to recycle used semiconductors at the moment,” Otaka said.

“However, we do have a program for reusing plastic trays used for packing of semiconductors. Our reusing rate of plastic trays was 40 percent in 2003, and increased to 46 percent in 2004. We also encourage the use of recyclable materials in plastic trays,” he continued.

“Semiconductors themselves are not part of the target products specified by the WEEE, but we plan to be 100 percent lead-free by December to comply with the Restriction of Hazardous Substance [RoHS] directive, which controls the use of lead in packages,” he noted.

As for EuP, Otaka said it is difficult to say whether or not semiconductors will be part of the restricted products, but Renesas has already implemented a Design for Environment (DFE) program on certain products to evaluate various risk factors through the use of low power consumption technology, miniaturization of chips and manufacturing, to minimize the impact on the environment.

Another top semiconductor provider Texas Instruments said it does not include recycling of components in its environmental compliance efforts because it is primarily a components manufacturer and this is an issue that is mostly driven by its customers who produce end equipment.

“We are, of course, following related legislative developments and making plans with our customers accordingly,” said Lara B. Wallentine, manager of Texas Instruments’ worldwide environmental, safety and health communications.

TI also encourages customers to take initiative as they bear the primary responsibility of recycling.

“We do have a recycling program in Europe for our educational technology [calculators] sold there, which is in compliance with the WEEE directive. This is a smaller segment of our business, although it is more well-known,” she added.

Closer to the European Union directives is France-based STMicroelectronics, which said that in 2004 80 percent of its waste was recycled or reused, compared to 73 percent in 2003, 65 percent in 2002 and 25 percent in 1999.

“In 2004, ST reused or recycled 32,000 of the 40,000 tons of waste generated,” explained Giuliano Boccaletti, director of corporate environment, health and safety.

Further, Boccaletti reminded, “waste is not always industrial. ST’s back-end site in Muar, Malaysia, has made a valuable contribution to its zero landfill waste policy. By Q3 2004, it had reached its goal of recycling 100 percent of canteen waste.”

Not-for-Profit Options

Along those lines, organizations around the world have come up with creative ways to reuse what would have ended up in a landfill, recycling products into valuable tools for needy schools and other non-government organizations.

Seattle-based non-profit InterConnection Computer Reuse and Learning Center makes proper use of the tons of electronic items that are discarded daily. The center teaches computer maintenance and repair skills to local community members, donates computers to people who complete a computer skills program and provides refurbished computers to non-profit organizations locally and abroad.

When computers and other products cannot be recycled, environmental impacts are reduced by ensuring all nonworking components are recycled by a local, certified electronics recycler.

Most recently, InterConnection shipped a number of computers to Paraguay for use by three rural schools. And in early June, 367 computers provided by InterConnection arrived successfully in northern Iraq to be distributed by the Kurdish Minister of Education to Kurdish schools.

Another group, Total Reclaim, claims to be the Northwest United States’ largest recycler of electronic waste. It receive thousands of used monitors and hundreds of computers per week -- most of which are broken down into their component parts.

The useful components are sold while the toxic materials, such as zinc and lead, are disposed of properly.

Interestingly, according to a National Safety Council study, in 1999 only about 11 percent of the 24 million obsolete desktop PCs were recycled or refurbished.

A national organization that recycled used computers is The National Christina Foundation (NFC) that has placed tens of thousands of computers and peripherals with hundreds of thousands of various disadvantaged recipients. This organization’s goal is to provide computer technology and solutions to give people with disabilities, students at risk and the economically disadvantaged the opportunity, through training, to lead more independent and productive lives.

Another major national foundation, Computers For Schools, focuses on education and youth. Founded in 1991, the foundation is a nationwide program that addresses the critical need for computers in America's classrooms.

There are other non-profit agencies, not quite as specific in focus as NCF or Computers For Schools that will collect old computers and peripherals in addition to other items. Computer Recycling Services have been established by Goodwill Industries of Southern California to collect, refurbish and sell used computer equipment. There is also the Computer Recycling Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

Finally, a good deed can be done close to home, by making some phone calls. After checking all the specifications on your computer, modem, processor, printer, etc, call local schools -- preferable the high schools that have computer and computer engineering classes. Community colleges and churches are other groups that may enthusiastically accept equipment.

Pros and Cons

To be fair, even beneficial moves to recycle used electronics has its challenges.

In its reuse and recycling efforts in packing materials, Renesas said the benefits to manufacturers are the potential cost reduction as a result of reusing and recycling, but there must be a collection channel established for reusing and recycling along with measures implemented to maintain the quality and functionality of products.

Finally, on the customer level, there may be cost reductions realized by recycling products along with a potential reduction of wastes and associated costs. However, products must be separated properly upon disposal and must be stored and controlled until recycling can occur.