Options
2004
Conference Paper
Titel
Lead-free Board Marking as Marking for Environmental Issues
Alternative
Optionen der Bleifrei-Kennzeichnung für umweltfreundliche Lebenszyklus-Prozesse
Abstract
After the 1st of July 2006, all electronic products should be free of materials defined by RoHS . This includes the use of lead. Basically, conventional solder contains lead as base material. To distinguish products according to their content and as a transition process towards the lead-free electronics, marking of electronic products to support the supply chain is required. Main driver for developing marking is the legislative requirements. The paper collects different solutions and shows the complexity between marking for awareness and the costs aspects. The standardisation organisations have to combine their efforts to make a useful label, but it is possible too, that various component manufacturers will change nothing in its inner identification system. But under which conditions marking can enforce environmental issues beneath the legislative requirements? This paper will discuss labelling/marking of electronic products base on the point of view of legislative requirements as well as the technical requirements to support environmental friendly electronic products. In the paper scenarios for service and repair as well as collection and recycling of waste electronics will be developed. Service has the aim to return products to its use with the same or a higher functionality. Repair is a process that enable the use of a product for a further period and can be combined with an upgrading. The possibility whether a product can be reused or not will be decided by an adapted collection process. At the end, if reuse is impossible or not economically realizable, the recycling of the material content is required. We have to investigate the details of these processes to define the flow of different kinds of information. Different technical solutions should be analysed regarding a higher potential of good business. From this it follows that the technical information can enable more and better business processes with a positive environmental effect. The amount of this needed information defines the kind and the dimensions of a label. The paper is interesting for developers and designers of electronic assemblies. It should give an expression for which class of products label are useful and how to organize business chains for the End-of-Life treatment. The task described is a part of the EFSOT project to prepare a labelling for a verification board of lead-free soldering technologies to demonstrate the findings from the project.