What is the e³ Survival Toolkit?

eco³ have developed a state-of-the-art interactive toolkit to aid compliance with the WEEE and RoHS Directives. This web site provides simple tools to move you towards compliance with both Directives.

The toolkit is a unique and invaluable resource on WEEE and RoHS and a must for any company involved in the manufacture, importing and distribution of electrical and electronic equipment. It also a very important tool for all those involved in supply chains of electrical and electronic equipment such as subcontractors and component suppliers.

Eco-design and producer responsibility specialists eco3 have launched a toolkit designed to aid compliance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directives.

WEEE Directive
The WEEE Directive places a legal and financial responsibility upon producers of electronic and electrical equipment to recover and recycle a proportion of products at the end of their life. This responsibility may be as high as 80% by weight and can be discharged directly or via third parties.

RoHS Directive
The RoHS Directive imposes a ban on certain hazardous substances within electrical equipment placed on the EU market regardless of where it is manufactured. The banned materials are: Lead, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chrome, Mercury, Poly brominated biphenyl, and three Poly brominated diphenyl ethers. Maximum concentration levels apply as do certain exemptions.

The Directives have many serious implications for large and small businesses alike. The move to lead-free poses a number of technical and information challenges alone.

Small businesses in particular are struggling to deal with the legislation. This toolkit provides a range of resources to assist businesses in complying with the regulations as they come into force over the next two years.

The toolkit includes a number of innovative features which will help steer businesses through the challenges posed by the regulations. It provides a detailed analysis of the regulations in business language which avoids unnecessary technical and legal jargon. It outlines the major implications for industry in a logical manner and deals with the most common questions relating to WEEE and RoHS as discrete sections of the toolkit and in a 'frequently asked questions' section.

The sections on WEEE allows users to identify what their legal requirements are and to develop a route-map to compliance. The RoHS section outlines the proscribed materials, their likely uses, possible locations within electrical and electronic equipment and alternative materials.

The section on lead-free issues includes details of possible manufacturing problems such as pop-corning, fillet-lifting, tomb-stoning, measling and tin-whiskering as well as performance limitations and issues and the knock-on process implications.

A key element of the toolkit is the section on Interactive DIY assessment and diagnosis tools. These tools assess a company's compliance status by asking key questions relating to product range, markets, sales levels, supply-chain management and materials used in the product. A bespoke compliance assessment report is generated which summarises the key actions that should be considered. These diagnosis tools are unique to the e³ Survival Toolkit and allow a company to assess the actions required by itself and its suppliers.

The toolkit also provides an insight into the views of UK and European businesses on WEEE and RoHS. Producers, small businesses, component suppliers, research organisations and trade associations are all represented.

The toolkit has video interviews with industry representatives from each level of the supply-chain. These include businesses representing OEM's, component suppliers, assemblers, trade associations and research organisations.

Each provides an insight into how WEEE and RoHS will impact them and the particular tier of the supply-chain they represent.

Additionally the toolkit contains a range of training materials that allow companies to raise awareness of WEEE and RoHS with suppliers, customers and other parties. Supply-chains hold the key to producer's compliance.

To reflect this, the toolkit includes a range of sample material declaration forms and actions that businesses can take to move towards compliance.