PCIF launches in-depth best practice guidance for UK PCB industry

Citation

(2000), "PCIF launches in-depth best practice guidance for UK PCB industry", Circuit World, Vol. 26 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2000.21726bab.001

PCIF launches in-depth best practice guidance for UK PCB industry

Keywords PCIF, Printed circuit boards, Environmentally friendly

The PCIF have launched an Environmental Best Practice initiative aimed at helping UK PCB manufacturers maintain their competitiveness whilst complying fully with increasingly stringent UK and European environmental legislation.

And compliance is costly. It is estimated that the cost borne by UK industry as a whole is around 2 percent of total costs. For the PCB industry, where a wide range of potentially harmful chemical processes are employed, the cost can rise to 7 percent, bringing the UK industry total to around »40 million annually.

Supported/funded by the Department of Trade & Industry, The Environment Agency, The Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme, and PCIF member company Shipley Europe, the PCIF Environmental Best Practice initiative has produced as its central core a 108-page hardback entitled The Printed Circuit Board Industry - An Environmental Best Practice Guide. Edited by Shipley's Dr Martin Goosey and Dr Rod Kellner, the publication draws upon the experience of the PCIF's 60 member-strong Environmental Working Group which, since its inception over three years ago, has been gathering best practice information aimed at helping PCB producers minimise the consumption of chemistry, materials and other resources as well as helping them make real cost savings whilst minimising their environmental impact.

Believed to be the first publication in the world to provide such guidance for the PCB manufacturer, the book will be issue free-of-charge to the UK printed circuit board industry. All PCIF member companies will automatically receive copies; UK based non-member companies can request a copy. The guidebook will also be made available to companies outside the UK at a modest cost.

In addition to publishing this guidebook, the PCIF Environmental Working Group is also tackling several key issues, including environmental legislation, environmental management systems and packaging and its recycling. The Group has established a free-of-charge environmental telephone helpline for the UK PCB industry and has developed novel equipment for the recovering of tin and lead from highly acidic waste solutions. Its work is on-going.

For further information or to request a review copy of The Printed Circuit Board Industry - An Environmental Best Practice Guide (ISBN 0-9534824-0-5) please contact Claire Griffiths. Tel: +44 (0) 171 515 1166; Fax: +44 (0) 171 515 1188. E-mail: cgriffiths@pcif.org.uk