Re: RoHS just a thought
- From: Chris Jones <lugnut808@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:17:19 +0100
Bob Masta wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:56:40 GMT, Eeyore
<rabbitsfriendsandrelations@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"greenplanetsolutions@xxxxxxxxx" wrote:
What do you think?
The general consensus among all the electronic enginers I know is that the
whole lead-free thing is 100% barmy and is a solution looking for a
problem.
No-one I know wants to make equipment that will be less reliable (lead
free).
Stop to consider why the miliary, aerospace (AIUI) and certain
telecoms/networking are exempt.
Furthermore, the regulations (certainly in the EU) regarding documentation
are so excessive that no small company can ever actually afford to comply
fully. It's simply bureacracy gone totally mad.
Personally, I'm all in favor of making things kinder to the
environment. The problem with lead-free solders,
however, is that they are simply not an acceptable
solution. The issue is "tin whiskers" which grow
from the so-called solder at an alarming rate and
can short to adjacent conductors. It's hard to
imagine that anyone could seriously consider this
as an acceptable replacement for leaded solder.
My first reaction to all this was that we should just
do a better job of diverting electronics devices from
the landfills, and into some sort of material recovery stream.
But these days "electronics" might be in almost anything,
including kids' sneakers. If the RFID proponents get
their wish, electronics will be in damn near *everything*.
What's the answer?
How about make all of the disposable consumer crap lead free except offer a
blanket exception to allow 5% leaded solder in any product which comes with
a 5 year or greater warranty, and up to 36% lead if the warranty exceeds 15
years. I think that companies that offer a long warranty will put more
thought into making the product last longer, and they should be given the
best materials to achieve the lowest total amount of pollution (which must
include the energy and materials that goes into making lead-free
electronics that fails and is scrapped after a couple of years due to tin
whiskers). The warranty would need to be backed by a pre-paid voucher on
the appliance for shipping to the manufacturer within the warranty period
or shipping to a proper recycling facility thereafter. It would be
reasonable to require the manufacturer to buy insurance to protect the
warranty service in the event that they might go out of business within the
warranty period (as otherwise this would be a cheap get-out for
unscrupulous companies), but any "insurance", "recycling scheme" or
membership fees should be set at a fixed price per kilogram of electronics
content sold, rather than the kind of annual per-company bribes /
protection money / membership fees / WEEE registration that penalises small
businesses and start-ups, and favours only the largest companies (and
therefore has been implemented).
Chris
.
- References:
- RoHS just a thought
- From: greenplanetsolutions@xxxxxxxxx
- Re: RoHS just a thought
- From: Eeyore
- Re: RoHS just a thought
- From: Bob Masta
- RoHS just a thought
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