RoHS and WEEE

RoHS:

RoHS, also known as Lead-Free, stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union and restricts the use of six hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. These regulations implement the RoHS directive which bans the placing on the EU market of new EEE containing more than the agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) flame retardants. The following steps are involved for RoHS certification. Documentation Review: Review Bill of Materials, assembly drawings, Materials Declarations for each component and product, test reports and Conformance Certificates. Audit: Inspect all manufacturing processes needed to meet RoHS compliance for the six restricted substances. Testing: On-site portable XRF testing is done to determine values of the six restricted RoHS substances. Certification: After successful audit, a RoHS certficate is issued.

Weeeman:

The WEEE man, designed by Paul Bonomini, is a huge robotic figure made of scrap electrical and electronic equipment. It weighs 3.3 tonnes and stands seven meters tall – representing the average amount of e-products every single one of us throws away over a lifetime. WEEE stands for Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The WEEE man project’s main objectives are: to transform public perception of waste from "out of sight, out of mind" to visible, thought–provoking and behaviour–changing to encourage the public, retailers and manufacturers to think carefully about waste reduction to raise the profile of the recycling industry to educate people on ethical consumer choice and sustainable resource management to raise support among designers and manufacturers for environmentally friendly designs