Sustainability, RoHS/WEEE, and circular electronics

Electronics looks clean and harmless on the outside, but often contains substances that are anything but: heavy metals, flame retardants and other chemicals that can harm both people and nature if they end up in the wrong place. Therefore there is a whole set of rules about what electronics may contain and what must happen to it when it is worn out — and the education's goals explicitly state that you must be able to work in a safety and environmentally conscious manner and act in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

The RoHS regulations (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) set a limit for how much of a number of selected, harmful substances an electrical or electronic product may contain. The regulations, which in Denmark are implemented in the RoHS ordinance administered by the Environmental Agency, prohibit, among other things, lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and a number of brominated flame retardants and phthalates in more than a set limit value.

Where RoHS is about what may be in the product from the start, the WEEE rules (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) are about what should happen when the product is spent. The EU's WEEE directive imposes on manufacturers a so-called producer responsibility: they must ensure collection and approved environmental treatment of used electronics, register in a producer register, and report how much electronics they put on the market and how much electronic waste is collected. In Denmark, the rules are implemented in regulations under the Environmental Protection Agency.

• 01Manufacturers must take back or ensure collection of electronic waste
• 02Collected electronics must be environmentally treated by approved facilities
• 03Manufacturers must register and report quantities sold and collected
• 04Electronic waste must not be disposed of as ordinary household waste.

An increasing part of sustainable work in the electronics trade is not about rules, but about a choice: should something be repaired, or should it be replaced? The training's objectives about complicated fault-finding and fault-correction tasks, as well as being able to assess repair options and advise on the most economically advantageous repair, point directly to the fact that the skilled electronics technician not only can find a fault — but can also assess whether it is worth correcting. A repair that extends an appliance's lifespan saves both raw materials, energy for new production and the burden that disposal and replacement would have been.

Circular thinking means that materials and components are kept in circulation as long as possible instead of being used once and discarded. For an electrician this can be about reusing parts from obsolete equipment about designing or choosing solutions that are easier to repair and separate and about ensuring that what must finally be discarded is at least treated so metals and other valuable materials can be recovered rather than lost.

“The most sustainable component is often the one you repair rather than replace.”

— Professional view on sustainable electronics.