Page 38 -

O
C
C h a p t e r 1 : h a p t e r 1 : O v e r v i e w a n d I s s u e s v e r v i e w a n d I s s u e s 9 9

The European Union has mandated a similar system across Europe, known as the Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. This directive has been adopted—and
subtly modified by member nations—throughout Europe. The directive makes equipment
manufacturers financially or physically responsible for obsolete equipment.
This End Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy of the WEEE Directive internalizes the PART I
end-of-life costs and provides a competitive incentive for companies to design equipment
PART I
PART I
that is less costly and easier to handle when it has reached end-of-life status.
NOTE Under the WEEE Directive, every country has to recycle at least 4 kg of e-waste per capita
per year.

The United States The United States has led the world in the consumption of many things.
However, Americans are sort of stalling when it comes to handling e-waste.
That said, the United States is certainly doing some things right. In recent years, some
states have banned cathode ray tubes (CRTs) from landfills because of fear that their heavy
metals would leach into the groundwater. Circuit boards are also culprits, because the lead
in their solder also risks seeping into groundwater. Even worse, if the circuit board is
incinerated, air pollution is likely. To counter that, many states have mandated that e-waste
be handled separately from regular trash.
Unfortunately, these mandates have had the negative impact of creating “brokers” who
collect e-waste and ship it to the aforementioned countries. In Guiyu, for instance, thousands
of men, women, and children work in highly polluting environments, extracting the metals,
toners, and plastics from computers and other e-waste.
A global agreement known as the Basel Convention prevents the shipment of e-waste to
other countries; however, the United States has not signed off on it.

NOTE We’ll talk more about the Basel Convention in the next chapter.
The Basel Action Network estimates that 80 percent of the e-waste that is sent out for
recycling actually gets loaded onto ships bound for China, India, Kenya, or other countries.
Although the United States doesn’t have any federal laws governing e-waste, several
states are taking it upon themselves to establish such laws. California was the first state to
enact such legislation, followed by Maryland, Maine, Washington, Minnesota, Oregon,
and Texas.

Your Company’s Carbon Footprint
The term carbon footprint is thrown around a lot in green circles. Although we have a general
idea of its meaning—one’s impact on the planet—there’s no standard definition.
In some cases, it might refer just to carbon dioxide output; in other cases it means
greenhouse gas emissions. In other organizations, carbon footprint might mean that
everything is tallied—sourcing materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, disposal, and
so forth.