Transcript Slide 1

Environmentally Preferable Practices
for Electronics:
Procurement to End-of-Life
Health Care Without Harm
&
The Computer Take Back Campaign
Catholic Healthcare
Association
Teleconference
Training
September 8, 2004
Mamta Khanna
1
The Center for Environmental Health (CEH)
is a non-profit organization dedicated to
protecting public health from exposures to
toxic chemicals.
Health Care Without Harm’s (HCWH) mission is to
transform the health care industry worldwide,
without compromising patient safety or care, so that
it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source
of harm to public health and the environment.
The goal of the Computer Take Back
Campaign (CTBC) is to protect the
health and well being of electronics
users, workers, and the communities
where electronics are produced and
2
discarded.
CEH, HCWH & CTBC
– With a wide range of constituents
– Committed to environmental and social justice
– Promote the phase out of Persistent Bioaccumulative
Toxicants (Mercury, Dioxins, Brominated Flame
Retardants) and other hazardous chemicals
– Minimize the amount and toxicity of all waste
generated
– Promote the use of safer materials and practices
3
Electronics in Healthcare
• Healthcare depends on electronic products
greatly for products as diverse as:
• IT, medical diagnostic electronic equipment
(EKG monitors), consumer electronic products
(TVs, cell phones, etc) and more…
• Short life spans of products
4
What’s the problem?
High Tech Impact on the Environment
In Silicon Valley, the birthplace of high tech,
24 of the 29 sites
listed on the National Priorities List (Superfund Sites) for clean up of
contaminated soil and water were caused by high-tech companies.
“Printed circuit boards contain heavy metals such as antimony, silver,
chromium, zinc, lead, tin and copper.
According to some estimates, there is hardly any other product for
which the sum of the environmental impacts of raw material,
extraction, industrial, refining and production, use and disposal is
so extensive as for printed circuit boards.”
-CARE conference, Vienna 1994
5
Materials of Concern in Manufacturing of
Electronics Products
Some examples…
• chlorinated plastics in cable wiring
• brominated flame retardants in PCBs
• heavy metals (lead and cadmium) in CRTs
• mercury in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or flat
panel monitors.
More information:
http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/focus.htm
6
High Tech Impact on Health
Materials found in electronic
products are recognized to be:
• teratogenic = linked to birth
defects
• persistent = not easily excreted
from the body
• bioaccumulative = magnifies up
the food chain
• carcinogenic = cancer causing
• reproductive toxin = linked to
birth defects
• endocrine disruptor = disrupts
the hormonal system
• mutagenic = causes mutations in
cells
Courtesy CAFOD²
2: http://www.cafod.org.uk/
7
Product Lifecycle
DISPOSAL
MANUFACTURE
• Toxic chemical use:
mercury, lead, chromium,
cadmium, brominated
flame retardants and PVC:
priority list.
• Occupational health
exposures to hazardous
chemicals
• Intense resource use
•Landfill and
incineration: illegal
USE
•Increased
understanding of
consumer exposures to
Brominated Flame
Retardants.
• Recycling facilities not
regulated
•Evidence of BFRs in ewaste recycling workers
• Use of prison labor
• Export of hazardous
materials to developing
nations
Worker Safety Patient Safety Community Health
8
Health Impacts X Volume
300 Million Obsolete Computers by 2004
Plastic
4 billion lbs.
Lead
1 billion lbs.
Cadmium
2 million lbs.
Chromium
1.2 million lbs.
Mercury
400,000 lbs.
9
Domestic Landfilling: Health Impacts
Case Study of Mercury and Exposure During Disposal
• Lighting in flat panel displays is a source of mercury. Mercury is a welldocumented neurotoxin. Mercury contamination occurs during the
transfer, landfilling, and incineration of solid waste
• Mercury emissions found at landfills (working face and in gas extraction
systems).
• Landfills convert part of the mercury in products from the metallic form
to the more toxic methyl form and the highly toxic dimethyl form and are
a major source of these emissions
• Mercury from landfills can re-enter the environment when the leachate is
treated either on-site or at wastewater treatment plants
Mercury is only one of several toxins used in the manufacture of electronic
products.
For more information:
http://www.newmoa.org/NEWMOA/htdocs/prevention/mercury/landfillfactsheet.cfm
10
Health and Environmental Impacts of
Improper Disposal
Domestic Recycling
• Findings in Recycling Workers
The levels of BFRs found at electronics dismantling plants
were several orders of magnitude higher than in other
environments
• Recycling workers are being highly exposed to PBDE and
TBBPA (mainly used in printed circuit boards)
11
Prison Labor: Unfair practices
• Disassembly of electronic
products is dangerous to the
health of prisoners
• Racial minorities and lowincome individuals comprise
about 70 percent of all federal
prisoners (African Americans
and Latino)
• Do not receive full
protections, rights and
remedies
Prison Reform and Advocacy Center:
www.prisonreform.com/usprison_main.shtml and Prison
Activist Resource Center: www.prisonactivist.org
• Undercuts commercial highend recycling
USEPA Civil Rights Environmental Justice Order 12898
http://www.epa.gov/civilrights/eo12898.htm
12
Exporting Harm:
International Dumping of E-Waste
Increasing evidence of e-waste dumping in the guise of recycling.
Developing countries and communities impacted by:
•Lower wages
•Weaker environmental laws
•Weak infrastructure to handle
•Environmental exposures to highly toxic chemicals
December 2001. Copyright Basel Action Network.
13
Exporting Harm (2)
“Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia”
http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinalcomp.pdf by
Basel Action Network, 2002.
“E-waste in Chennai: Time is running out”
http://www.toxicslink.org/docs/06033_reptchen.pdf (2004)
and “Scrapping the Hi-tech Myth: Computer Waste in India”
http://www.toxicslink.org/docs/06037_Hi_Tech_Myth.pdf
(2003), both reports by Toxics Link, India.
Guiyu, China: Woman about to smash a
cathode ray tube from a computer monitor in
order to remove copper.
December 2001. Photographs Copyright Basel Action Network.
14
Early Warnings of User Exposures to BFRs
• Some studies have also shown exposures to computer
technicians and office workers
– Analysis and toxicology of BFRs with emphasis on PBDEs, by Pettersson
and Karlsson, Orebro University, Sweden
• Brominated Flame Retardants in Dust on Computers:
http://www.computertakeback.com/the_problem/bfr.c
fm
15
Why Healthcare should Care?
•
Hippocratic oath “First Do No Harm”
•
Proactively protect public health
•
Leadership in community
•
Concern with environmental compliance (e-waste is hazardous waste)
•
Concern with privacy protection (HIPAA)
•
Huge dependence on electronics in medical diagnostics and IT
•
Largely centralized procurement
•
Large turn-over of equipment: $$ to buy, store, dispose
•
Effective “asset disposition” can save money and resources
•
High $$ amount of purchase = Manufacturers will listen
16
Total Cost of Ownership:
A New Lens for Electronic Waste Management
TOTAL COST =
PURCHASE PRICE + COST OF
STORING, TRANSPORTING AND
DISPOSING AS HAZARDOUS WASTE
+ RISK/LIABILITY ASSESSMENT
Do your homework before contract
negotiation
17
Environmentally Preferable Procurement
of IT Equipment: Basic Principles
1)
End-of-Life Management
1)
Upgradeability
1)
Design for the Environment and Public Health
1)
Manufacturing
1)
Energy Efficiency
18
Basic Principles of EPP for IT
1)
END OF LIFE MANAGEMENT:
Manufacturers provide or ensure the following:
A) Take-back and management services
Why Take-Backs?
- Ensure that manufacturers help alleviate disposal costs
- Encourage design of less toxic alternative products
- Innovation!
B) Info-labels with take-back information
C) Recycling vendors sign Electronic Recycler’s Pledge of Stewardship:
Pledge to meet strict standards for managing e-waste
http://www.ban.org/pledge1.html
D) Certification that hazardous waste is not exported to developing countries
E) Documentation on processes for end-of-life management
F) Certification & documentation of recycling practices
19
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
1) END OF LIFE MANAGEMENT (CONTD.):
G) Protections for recycling workers from
hazardous exposures.
- Enable workers to take actions to protect
their own health. This excludes prison
workers.
H) Recycling or reuse of old equipment
-Minimum, demonstrate (by posting to
company website) that more than half of
old equipment will be recycled or reused by
2006¹
1: As per the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Directive passed by the EU Jan 03 www.informinc.org has
good information.
20
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
2) UPGRADEABILITY:
Manufacturers provide guarantees and options to upgrade product:
Memory, speed, capacity of machines, ability to expand networks and
equipment use without replacing existing equipment.
Why?
• Extends life of equipment
• Holds down costs over time
• Conserves resources used in manufacture and disposal
21
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
3) DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT & PUBLIC HEALTH
Manufacturers to
A) Disclose toxic materials contained in the product on the company website
i) Right to know of consumer to make informed choices
ii) Gives opportunity for companies to compete positively
Yesterday HP, today Dell, tomorrow Sony?
B) Demonstrate plans and timelines to eliminate or minimize toxic and hazardous constituents
C) Eliminate the following Priority list:
i) Lead
ii) Cadmium
iii) Mercury
iv) Hexavalent Chromium
v) Brominated Flame Retardants
vi) Chlorinated Plastics
WHY?
Most toxic, persist in the environment and our bodies and accumulate up the food chain
22
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
3) DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT & PUBLIC HEALTH (CONT…)
Closing the loop:
Design and manufacture have an impact
on end-of-life disposal options:
- Costs to society
- Environmental (our air, water and soil)
- Public health (increased cancers, reproductive harm)
23
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
4) MANUFACTURING
Our goal: Protect occupational health and safety (OHS) of employees in
manufacturing
Manufacturers to provide documentation:
i) Corporate policy on OHS
ii) Results of routine industrial monitoring
iii) Results of medical monitoring of employees globally (while protecting
privacy)
iv) Occupational Safety & Health Administration Injury report Log 300
24
Basic Principles for EPP (Cont…)
5) ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Manufacturers to meet Energy Star requirements
25
Disposal: End of Life Management
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
No Landfills
No Incineration
26
Choosing An Electronics Recycler
Asking the right questions from your recycler:
• Have they signed the Electronic Recycler’s Pledge of True
Stewardship¹?
• What do they do to recycle? Reuse? Do they provide proof/
documentation?
• Can they help with logistics of transportation/storage?
• Do they offer data destruction? Methods? Proof/Documentation?
• Labor source?
• Regulatory compliance?
• Sound, ethical business practices?
• Involve local businesses, non-profits
Set criteria that meet your goals.
¹For more information: http://www.ban.org/pledge1.html
27
Is it waste or not: Doing the Analysis
Working or non-working?
Do not put in trash:
If
working…
Donate for
reuse
Potential
CERCLA
liability
Regulated as hazardous
waste. ILLEGAL
Responsible
recycler or broker (who
has signed Pledge of
Stewardship) to take
equipment to resell or
refurbish.
Ensure pieces and parts from refurbishing
or repair are accounted for.
Regulated as hazardous waste.
Placing in trash is ILLEGAL
If not
working…
Diagnose and
repair
Donate to non-profit that
has capacity for
refurbishing
28
Storage and Security Issues of E-waste
• Resale & recycle value of stored equipment depreciates 6-10%/month.
• 3-year old equipment has > value
• Data sanitization should be done upon retirement, before storage or surplus.
• Total destruction for data security wastes equipment with value.
• Not enough to delete hard drives, Department of Defense standards for Data
Destruction
More info: [http://www.hipaa.org/ or http://www.hipaadvisory.com/tech/disksan.htm]
29
Health Care Without Harm
http://www.noharm.org/electronics/issue
Computer Take-Back
Campaign
www.computertakeback.com
30
Thank you!
Mamta Khanna
510-594-9864
[email protected]
www.cehca.org
31