Why is it important to remove halogen from electronic products?

Tags: breast milk, fire retardant, halogen free computer displays, halogen free electronic products, halogen free IT products, halogenated substances, hazardous substances, health problems, ICT products, NEC EA222We, RoHS, TCO Certified, TCO Certified edge award

This week, in a major development for green technology, the TCO Certified eco-label for electronics, together with display industry leader NEC, announced the NEC Eco-Flagship EA222WMe wide computer monitor as the first to receive the TCO Certified Edge award for designing a product completely free of halogens, a proven hazard to human health and the environment. This groundbreaking achievement is a major step towards a more sustainable ICT infrastructure.

For almost 15 years, removing halogenated substances from electronic products has been an ambition of  the TCO Certified program and other advocates of environmental and human health . Halogens such as brominated and chlorinated flame retardants are proven to pose substantial risks, both to the natural environment and also to the health of animals and humans. The challenge of eliminating these substances has been to work closely with industry partners to find viable alternatives that still maintain the safety features otherwise provided by halogenated content in the product.  This long term collaboration has now brought to market the first electronic products completely free from halogenated substances.

Halogenated substances have been used as an inexpensive and simple fire retardant in electronics, textiles and other everyday products for many years. They are also commonly used as a “plasticizer” in many products, giving the product a softer, pliable character. The environmental and health problems with halogen lie in its stability and persistence. It doesn’t break down when disposed of but is actually shown to remain in plants, animals and humans, for example in fat and breast milk. It has also been shown to adversely affect hormonal function, potentially causing fertility problems.

Voluntary third party certifications such as TCO Certified can help influence the progress of green design by recognizing front runners in industry who are successful in phasing out hazardous substances. But industry-wide adoption of these practices demands that legislation includes these good design practices by tightening existing legislation. The RoHS directive has been instrumental in brining about a reduction in the use of halogenated substances and other hazardous materials in electronics. However there are still many exclusions and exceptions to RoHS, which need to be tightened in order to realize a market where halogen-free electronics are the norm rather than the exception. 

TCO Certified continues to work closely with industry,  research and user communities  as well as environmental experts and legislators to ensure ongoing  progress in the  development of ICT products that are designed for the environment and usability.

Minimize the toxic cocktail from your computer

Tags: bio-accumulative, chemical substances, chemicals, cocktail of chemicals, computers, defence of the unborn, dioxins, e-waste, flame retardant, hazardous substances, IT equopment, presticides, recycling, RoHS, stefan Jarl, Submission, TCO label

We are constantly exposed to new chemicals – through the air we breathe, the food we eat, what we drink and through our skin. Young people today have higher concentration of chemicals such as brominated flame retardants than ever before. Studies have shown that newborns have on average around 200 synthetic chemicals in their blood, chemicals like pesticides, dioxins and flame retardants. Levels in our environment, including our food and water, keep on increasing.

No one knows what effect these chemicals have on us, on animals or the environment – especially not in this complicated mix, the “cocktail” of chemicals we are exposed to today. The Swedish film-maker Stefan Jarl recently made a documentary Submission – in defence of the unborn, featuring 23 professors from around the world. In the documentary Jarl seeks to find out just what problems these chemicals can cause, and the lingering effects they can have on unborn children. Have a look at a trailer for this interesting movie here  (the trailer is in English).

IT equipment contains plenty of different hazardous metals, chemicals and materials. Legislation has prohibited a few (the EU RoHS directive for instance) but there is so much more that needs to be done. Tonnes of E-waste are being burned in backyards in China or Africa, polluting both the environment and us – these chemicals are both persistent and bio-accumulative and travel far. One group of substances causing a lot of concerns is the halogenated, specifically the brominated and chlorinated. When the E-waste is burned under insufficient conditions – as a lot of the millions of tonnes of E-waste are today – hazardous dioxins, furans and other chemicals are released. These are then transferred to our food, water and finally, to us.

So what should we do? We can obviously not wait for our legislators to prohibit all potentially harmful substances. When it comes to IT equipment and the chemicals they contain there are several things we can do ourselves.

1. Buy eco labelled products! The TCO certification program prohibited brominated and chlorinated substances and materials and hazardous metals in the certified products 1995 – over 10 years before the European RoHS directive. And we have continuously added and toughened the requirements since then. 
2. Use your vacuum cleaner at home. A lot. It reduces the amount of brominated flame retardants, phthalates and other harmful substances flying around in your home.
3.  Have plenty of green plants at home. They also purify indoor air from harmful chemicals.
4. Leave your old electronics and all other hazardous waste for recycling – it reduces the amount of hazardous chemicals in the community in the long run.

Time to move RoHS to the next level

Tags: electrical products, electronic products, European Union restriction of hazardous substances, hazardous substances, RoHS, sustainable IT products, TCO Certified

The European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive plays an important role in promoting a transition to electrical and electronic products with less hazardous substances. The directive is currently being revised and TCO Certified strongly supports a legislation that helps guide the industry towards the development of more sustainable products.  Please read our statement  Time to move RoHS to the next level.

Help in the green jungle!

Tags: China RoHS, Compliance and Risks, environmental legislation, Green IT, IT products, regulation, RoHS

All of you working with designing IT equipment are well aware of the enourmous work task to keep track on all the different regulations and product standards out there. Most IT products are designed for an international market and therefore need to comply with the fast moving market of environmental legislation globally. Just one example is the European Directive  called RoHS (Restrictions on Hazardous Substances) that came in to force in 2006  that now is being implemented all over the world with similar but not exactly the same legislation. To just understand the small differences between China RoHS and the European RoHS takes a lot of time to evaluate  and then to feel confident that your product will comply with both of them is also a costly and time consuming process.  And with the focus on Green IT and Global warming there is no doubt that we will see much more of environmental legislation in the future.

Luckily there are today internet based tools to help you sort this out! One of them is the Irish based company Compliance and Risks with their tool called C2P (Compliance to Products) http://www.complianceandrisks.com/. On top of monitoring all the different national legislations world wide  you will from now on also be able to follow all what is happening with the TCO Certified standards we develop! TCO Development was recently assigned Data Partner to Compliance and Risks and will regularly update their database with all relevant information about TCO Certified.