Industry offers alternative to EU's proposed ban on tin-lead solder

Citation

(1999), "Industry offers alternative to EU's proposed ban on tin-lead solder", Circuit World, Vol. 25 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.1999.21725dab.012

Industry offers alternative to EU's proposed ban on tin-lead solder

Industry offers alternative to EU's proposed ban on tin-lead solder

Keywords: Electronics industry, Environmental regulations, Lead, EFIP

Believing the 2004 ban on lead included in the European Union's proposed directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) would have a seriously damaging impact on Europe's electronics industry, the European Federation of Interconnection and Packaging (EFIP) is calling upon the European Commission to consider, as an interim measure, a solution which falls short of an outright ban on the use of tin-lead solder.

EFIP, which represents Europe's PCB and EMS industries, is objecting to the proposed lead ban on two counts. From the technical standpoint, the Federation takes the view that, as yet, there is no single, universally accepted drop-in alternative to tin-lead. And commercially, since the ban on lead-bearing solder would also apply to products imported into European Union countries, it believes such a ban would amount to a politically unacceptable trade embargo.

As an interim measure to be applied until a universally acceptable lead-free alternative is found, EFIP is urging the European Commission to scale down the proposal for a complete ban and replace it with a ban on the dumping of scrap electronic products into landfill.

"Since it is the threat of lead leaching from landfill into the water table, and thence to the food chain, that lies behind the Commission's proposed ban, we believe a ban on landfill dumping would be a reasonable, albeit short-term, solution," said the Federation's Political Representative, Brian Haken. "It is a commercially viable proposition since the lead in solder can be readily reclaimed for re-use at an acceptable cost. Furthermore, its adoption will prevent the chaos that would ensue should no single globally-acceptable alternative be found before 2004."

As well as a ban on dumping into landfill, EFIP is also calling for a co-ordinated international investigation to find a truly viable lead-free alternative. The Federation is suggesting that, if necessary, EU resources should be made available to fund such an investigation. "Candidate alternative alloys currently exist, but most of these require higher processing temperatures," Haken notes. "They are not drop-in replacements. And their environmental benefits in terms of being lead-free are offset by the additional contribution their use would make to global warming."