Report
Toxics in the ‘Clean Rooms’:
Are Samsung Workers at Risk?
Workers groups in South Korea report an unusually high incidence of cancers and other serious diseases among employees at Samsung’s semiconductor and other electronics plants. While the company denies any link, the pattern of illnesses is disturbingly similar to that seen at semiconductor facilities in the U.S. and Europe.
by elizabeth grossman
To experts in health issues relating to high-tech electronics workers, the story emerging from Samsung’s manufacturing plants in South Korea is distressingly familiar: An unusually high incidence of leukemia, lymphoma, brain cancer, and other serious diseases appears to exist among relatively young people who have worked in Samsung’s semiconductor and other chemically-intensive manufacturing plants. While direct cause and effect are difficult to prove, the South Korea situation presents striking similarities to patterns of illness seen at semiconductor plants in the United States and elsewhere in decades past.
In 2007, a 22-year-old woman named Yu-mi Hwang, who had worked at Samsung’s Giheung semiconductor plant while still in high school, died of leukemia. A year later, a 30-year-old woman who shared a workstation with Yu-mi died, also of leukemia. In March 2010, a 23-year-old woman named Park Ji-Yeon, who had worked at Samsung’s On-Yang semiconductor plant since 2004, also died of leukemia, three years after her diagnosis. In 2005, a 27-year old woman named Han Hae-kyoung, who had worked in a Samsung LCD plant since 1995, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and is now seriously disabled. Another woman, Lee Yoon-jeong, who worked for Samsung in semiconductor production between 1997 and 2003, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010 at age 30. As of March 2011, Korean labor and occupational health activists have counted 120 such cases of severe illnesses and 46 resulting fatalities among Samsung workers.
South Korea Samsung Factory
CHOI JAE-KU/AFP/Getty Images
A production line employee assembles an LCD TV at a Samsung plant in Suwon, South Korea.
According to Dr. Jeong-ok Kong, an occupational health physician who has tracked these cases for the Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health (KILSH) and other nonprofit organizations, most of the workers who have become ill with serious diseases that could be linked to their jobs worked in Samsung’s semiconductor plants. Initial studies by KILSH and an organization known as SHARPS (Supporters of Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry) have found 74 people who worked in Samsung semiconductor plants and became seriously ill; at least 26 of them have died. Fifteen additional workers who worked in LCD plants became seriously ill with these diseases, and at least five of them have died, according to Kong; three others worked in cell phone plants, and two of them have died.
“The victims we have been finding are concentrated in several ‘old’ and manual facilities,” said Kong, whose work on behalf of electronics-industry workers won a 2010 American Public Health Association Occupational Health and Safety Section Award.
“SHARPS began collecting information on these cases in 2007, but the victims have work histories that go back before 2000,” said Kong, speaking by phone from South Korea. Most of the workers known to SHARPS to have become ill were born in the 1980s and 1990s. Many were diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses in their 20s and 30s, many within well under ten years of beginning work at Samsung. Kong said similar illnesses were now being reported by workers at other Korean electronics firms.
Samsung, one of the world’s four largest electronics manufacturers, ranks among the top 40 companies on the Fortune 500 and is the largest company in South Korea. With its products accounting for about one-fifth of the nation’s exports, Samsung is extremely powerful in South Korea,
Many of the workers were diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses less than 10 years after starting at Samsung.
with more than $172 billion in sales in 2010. In addition to its extensive electronics businesses, the Samsung Group includes chemical manufacturing, heavy industry and construction, financial services (including life insurance and a credit card business), hotels, resorts, and a medical center. Samsung Electronics’ 2009-2010 sustainability report lists 157,701 employees, 80,115 of whom are listed in the “production” sector in South Korea; but it does not list how many work directly in manufacturing operations.
According to Kong, despite repeated requests by SHARPS, the Korean Ministry of Labor has not made available information showing how many Samsung employees work in manufacturing operations vs. white collar jobs; Samsung has also not provided such information. That these numbers are not public is not surprising as such details have also not been available at the initiation of epidemiological studies of the semiconductor industry in the U.S. and the UK. But it means there is no available count of the number of Samsung employees who work directly in jobs that would expose them to hazardous chemicals, which complicates efforts to establish the significance of the reported cancers and other serious illnesses.
The Samsung workers diagnosed with serious illnesses that may be linked to their employment worked in a variety of operations, according to Kong. Some worked on printed circuit boards for LCD screens; others worked in various aspects of semiconductor fabrication, including chip burning (a process that tests semiconductors by subjecting them to high heat and voltage), ion implantation, and using x-rays to check the quality of chips. While there is a lack of firmly verifiable data about the identity of all the substances used in these processes, what is known is that they involve dozens of chemicals that include organic solvents, among them benzene, and heavy metals, including lead.
Kong protest
Image from YouTube
Dr. Jeong-ok Kong has been an outspoken health advocate for electronics industry workers in South Korea.
Benzene and other volatile organic compounds used widely in semiconductor and other electronics manufacturing also include trichloroethylene (TCE) and methylene chloride, which are associated with cancer and nervous system damage and are also known to affect developing embryos. Benzene is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a confirmed human carcinogen. It is known to cause leukemia and dangerous blood disorders including aplastic anemia and thrombocytopenia, a disease that interferes with blood-clotting, from which at least one Samsung worker is suffering. Benzene is also known to cause cerebral edema and kidney disorders. Exposure to TCE has also been linked to elevated levels of certain cancers, including brain cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma. Lead, mercury, and other metals used commonly in semiconductor and other electronics manufacturing are known neurotoxicants. Arsenic, also used widely in electronics production processes, is toxic to blood cells and carcinogenic.
Most of these processes involving hazardous chemicals take place in so-called “clean rooms” — manufacturing facilities where the enclosed environment is engineered to remove dust and other particles that can damage sensitive equipment such as semiconductor chips and other high-tech components. What makes this potentially significant is that air in clean rooms re-circulates rapidly. This keeps dust and other particles away from sensitive equipment and products. (Those head-to-toe coveralls known as “bunny-suits” were designed to protect microchips et al. — rather than workers — from contaminants.)
Yet this recirculation of air also increases the rate at which workers breathe chemicals and the number of workers exposed, explained Joseph LaDou, former director of the International Center for Occupational Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. When the air circulates rapidly in the clean room’s enclosed environment, the effectiveness of any hoods or filters are diminished, he explained. “In an 8-hour shift — or the longer shifts worked in Asia — clean room workers are breathing a cauldron of chemicals,” said LaDou. And when it comes to any protective standards, “there is no regulation for exposure to groups of chemicals or circulating exposure,” he noted.
“The cases at Samsung fit a pattern of what we saw in the IBM study,” said Richard Clapp, Boston University professor emeritus of environmental health and epidemiologist who conducted an epidemiological study of cancer and death rates among IBM workers between 1969 and 2001 that
A U.S. epidemiologist says the cases at Samsung ‘fit a pattern’ of what was seen in a study of IBM workers.
found elevated rates of blood, brain, lymphatic, and other cancers among workers likely exposed to manufacturing chemicals.
Said Amanda Hawes, an attorney based in San Jose, Calif., who specializes in occupational health issues related to chemical exposure: “What’s being seen at Samsung is comparable to other situations where there’s been an excess of lymphoma and leukemia incidence among workers (particularly women) working in mixed chemical environments with solvents.” Hawes has represented former IBM workers in lawsuits involving chemical exposure. (IBM has settled a number of such cases out of court.)
According to Samsung, studies conducted in 2007 and 2008 by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency and a private consulting team found no correlation between the workplace environment and employee illnesses. “Nevertheless,” Reuben Staines, of Samsung’s corporate communications team in Seoul, wrote in an email, “Samsung Electronics has commissioned an additional independent third-party review, which began in July of last year.” This review is being conducted by a team led by Environ International, a private consultancy, and its work will be reviewed by a panel that includes experts from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Michigan, and other institutions. “The inspection team has been and continues to be given complete access to Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing facilities,” wrote Staines. Samsung says it will “carefully review” the Environ findings and “make any necessary changes to our environmental safety and health infrastructure and procedures.”
In December 2010, four Korean NGOs that have been working with SHARPS and labor groups issued a critique of a report released last fall into conditions at Samsung’s semiconductor fabrication plants. The report, known as the “Advisory Report” and overseen by Seoul National University, “found no instances of regulatory breaches in our manufacturing operations,” says Samsung. However, the NGOs say the report failed to account for all the chemicals used in the various production lines (some apparently use as many as 99 different chemicals) or to fully account for how chemicals have been managed – lapses they contend include safety and monitoring equipment failures and leaks. The NGO critique also notes that both the Advisory Report and a 2006 assessment by the Korean Institute for Environment Hygiene and Safety cautioned about the potential for exposure to highly concentrated toxic chemicals despite proper operating procedures.
Samsung has taken issue with SHARPS’ assessment of workers’ health and with the critique, calling the NGO account “inaccurate and misleading” and one that “cannot be viewed as a credible epidemiological study.” One criticism is that the NGO document includes illnesses outside of the semiconductor business. Rather than the 120 cases counted by SHARPS, Samsung says it “is aware of 22 cases of leukemia or lymphoma among all
Samsung says it will ‘carefully review’ an ongoing study and make any necessary changes in procedures.
workers employed in its semiconductor business from 1998 through April 2010. Among these cases, we are aware of 10 former employees who have passed away as a result of their illnesses.”
“Samsung maintains a world-class environment, health, and safety infrastructure,” wrote Staines, “and we continually make improvements and enhancements to ensure that it is state-of-the-art. We make these ongoing investments in the normal course of business, which includes careful review and implementation of recommendations that are presented to us through credible research.”
Samsung’s findings thus far mirror what the semiconductor industry has found in its investigations undertaken in response to revelations of comparable illnesses in similar circumstances in the U.K. and the U.S. While academic epidemiologists have found higher than expected incidences of cancers among semiconductor workers based on records from National Semiconductor in Scotland and from IBM in the U.S., the companies involved and the Semiconductor Industry Association have maintained that these studies are scientifically flawed and that there is no proof of a connection between chemical exposures and these illnesses. In 2008, the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) launched a study of cancer incidence among 28,000 former New York State IBM electronics plant workers, but it does not yet have any preliminary results.
In South Korea, two lawsuits brought on behalf of sickened Samsung workers against the Korea Workers Compensation and Welfare Service are now pending. The workers are suing the government agency for denying their compensation claims against Samsung. (In Korea, the government collects workers compensation funds from employers, adjudicates, and pays out claims.) One suit has been brought on behalf of six workers, five suffering from leukemia and one from lymphoma; the other, begun in 2011, is on behalf of four workers suffering from different diseases that include brain cancer. “It is important to note that Samsung is an interested party but not a defendant in this lawsuit,” wrote Staines.
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Staines also noted that Samsung “has strengthened its support programs for employees who have developed serious illnesses” and that “the company is committed to providing support for hospital expenses and living expenses.” The Environ report commissioned by Samsung is due this summer.
In a May 31 email, Kong said that she had just met with the family of another leukemia victim who had worked in a semiconductor factory and was diagnosed at age 37, having worked in electronics plants for 14 years. “He had told his wife to go and meet me when he cannot overcome the cancer,” Kong wrote, “So his wife called me and we met.”
These illnesses — the blood cancers, lymphomas and nervous system and other blood diseases — are all symptomatic of solvent exposure, according to Hawes. These cases are “a red flag,” says Clapp. “If you want to find a cause for these illnesses, this is where you’d go to look.”
POSTED ON 09 Jun 2011 IN
elizabeth grossman ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Grossman is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Salon, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, Grist, and other publications. In earlier articles for Yale e360, she explored how the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster could affect marine life off the Japanese coast and reported on recent studies suggesting a possible link between prenatal exposure to pesticides and the mental abilities of children.
MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
© 2010
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
BIG-TIME MADNESS
CORPORATE CAPITALISM 101
E-waste management 'not financially attractive'
Jamie Yap, ZDNet Asia on June 8th, 2011 (17 hours 11 minutes ago)
Disposing e-waste is not high up enterprises' priority lists because responsible management is not "financially attractive", said an industry watcher. Others say strong regulation and consumer demand for sustainable products needed.
According to David Moschella, global research director at CSC, a research and advisory firm, companies are not taking the e-waste issue seriously enough as most would hire a third-party to manage e-waste disposal for them.
Moreover, the issue of tackling rising volumes of obsolete, toxic-spilling electronic equipment possibly disposed illegally or unethically is "something vendors would rather not call attention to", he said in his e-mail.
Moschella said the e-waste problem will "absolutely" get worse in the short run because of the rising volumes of devices being built and disposed of. Unrecyclable parts, toxicity, time and costs incurred, and low public awareness all pose challenges to businesses' e-waste management, he added.
In the end, "being responsible is not financially attractive" for most companies as the costs of proper e-waste management often outweigh the benefits, he said.
Tom Dowdall, climate and energy campaigner at environment watchdog Greenpeace, disagreed and said in an e-mail that businesses would take e-waste seriously because reusing and recycling materials can reduce raw materials costs.
In addition, regulation such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive in the European Union, which stipulates collection and recycling targets of all electronic devices, make producers accountable for the costs of e-waste they produce, he noted.
Dowdall also pointed to Greenpeace's Toxic Tech campaign in 2005, which helped push companies to improve recycling services and change designs to make their products more reusable and recyclable. Lead and other heavy metals push recycling prices up too, which is why Greenpeace is campaigning for companies to phase out these materials from their products, he added.
Low public awareness
Besides grappling with financial implications, lack of public awareness is also hampering e-waste management efforts.
Francis Cheong, senior sustainability manager for Southeast Asia-Pacific at Nokia, argued that the main challenge with regard to e-waste is getting more people to recycle their devices. His observation stemmed from a 2008 internal consumer survey which found that 44 percent of old mobile phones are not being recycled.
He said there still is "a lot to be done" in terms of education and awareness. Nokia, for one, is working with external stakeholder such as business partners, schools and non-profit organizations to spread the mobile phone recycling message and participating in national green campaigns, he pointed out in his e-mail.
One example is how the Finnish phonemaker makes it convenient for customers to drop off their unwanted mobile phones and accessories at its Care Center, of which there are over 200 such facilities in Southeast Asia, Cheong pointed out.
He added that it also started an initiative with Singapore telco SingTel which allows customers to ask for recycling envelopes from shop outlets to drop off their unwanted used phones.
Electronics giant Panasonic commits to better e-waste management by assessing the environment impact of its product, from manufacturing to its end of life and being a "recycling-oriented manufacturer", said Low Beng Huat, general manager of Panasonic Asia-Pacific's regional planning and affairs group.
Asked if there are benefits to having proper e-waste management, he said having such processes help in protecting and conserving the environment, as well as reduce the company's dependence on virgin materials which helps, in turn, to lower the total costs of materials.
A shared responsibility
For a "successful and effective e-waste management system" to work though, Low said there must be defined responsibilities among key stakeholders. These include governments, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. There must also be infrastructure in place to carry out recycling activities, he added.
Greenpeace's Dowdall agreed, saying that a long-term solution needs to be a combination of "progressive action from companies" to produce sustainable products, strong regulations which makes companies accountable for products over the whole lifestyle, and growing consumer awareness and demand for sustainable products.
URL:http://www.zdnetasia.com/e-waste-management-not-financially-attractive-62300635.htm
E-waste management 'not financially attractive'
Jamie Yap, ZDNet Asia on June 8th, 2011 (17 hours 11 minutes ago)
Disposing e-waste is not high up enterprises' priority lists because responsible management is not "financially attractive", said an industry watcher. Others say strong regulation and consumer demand for sustainable products needed.
According to David Moschella, global research director at CSC, a research and advisory firm, companies are not taking the e-waste issue seriously enough as most would hire a third-party to manage e-waste disposal for them.
Moreover, the issue of tackling rising volumes of obsolete, toxic-spilling electronic equipment possibly disposed illegally or unethically is "something vendors would rather not call attention to", he said in his e-mail.
Moschella said the e-waste problem will "absolutely" get worse in the short run because of the rising volumes of devices being built and disposed of. Unrecyclable parts, toxicity, time and costs incurred, and low public awareness all pose challenges to businesses' e-waste management, he added.
In the end, "being responsible is not financially attractive" for most companies as the costs of proper e-waste management often outweigh the benefits, he said.
Tom Dowdall, climate and energy campaigner at environment watchdog Greenpeace, disagreed and said in an e-mail that businesses would take e-waste seriously because reusing and recycling materials can reduce raw materials costs.
In addition, regulation such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive in the European Union, which stipulates collection and recycling targets of all electronic devices, make producers accountable for the costs of e-waste they produce, he noted.
Dowdall also pointed to Greenpeace's Toxic Tech campaign in 2005, which helped push companies to improve recycling services and change designs to make their products more reusable and recyclable. Lead and other heavy metals push recycling prices up too, which is why Greenpeace is campaigning for companies to phase out these materials from their products, he added.
Low public awareness
Besides grappling with financial implications, lack of public awareness is also hampering e-waste management efforts.
Francis Cheong, senior sustainability manager for Southeast Asia-Pacific at Nokia, argued that the main challenge with regard to e-waste is getting more people to recycle their devices. His observation stemmed from a 2008 internal consumer survey which found that 44 percent of old mobile phones are not being recycled.
He said there still is "a lot to be done" in terms of education and awareness. Nokia, for one, is working with external stakeholder such as business partners, schools and non-profit organizations to spread the mobile phone recycling message and participating in national green campaigns, he pointed out in his e-mail.
One example is how the Finnish phonemaker makes it convenient for customers to drop off their unwanted mobile phones and accessories at its Care Center, of which there are over 200 such facilities in Southeast Asia, Cheong pointed out.
He added that it also started an initiative with Singapore telco SingTel which allows customers to ask for recycling envelopes from shop outlets to drop off their unwanted used phones.
Electronics giant Panasonic commits to better e-waste management by assessing the environment impact of its product, from manufacturing to its end of life and being a "recycling-oriented manufacturer", said Low Beng Huat, general manager of Panasonic Asia-Pacific's regional planning and affairs group.
Asked if there are benefits to having proper e-waste management, he said having such processes help in protecting and conserving the environment, as well as reduce the company's dependence on virgin materials which helps, in turn, to lower the total costs of materials.
A shared responsibility
For a "successful and effective e-waste management system" to work though, Low said there must be defined responsibilities among key stakeholders. These include governments, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. There must also be infrastructure in place to carry out recycling activities, he added.
Greenpeace's Dowdall agreed, saying that a long-term solution needs to be a combination of "progressive action from companies" to produce sustainable products, strong regulations which makes companies accountable for products over the whole lifestyle, and growing consumer awareness and demand for sustainable products.
URL:http://www.zdnetasia.com/e-waste-management-not-financially-attractive-62300635.htm
Monday, May 9, 2011
PRIZE-WINNING RADIO PROGRAM
Koula Hassid kindly sent me this link
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/360/stories/2011/3206745.htm Children of Sodom and Gomorrah
Toby
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/360/stories/2011/3206745.htm Children of Sodom and Gomorrah
Toby
Thursday, April 21, 2011
APPLE YET AGAIN THE PROBLEM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/apple-least-green-tech-company/print
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
NEW FOX SOLAR FACILITIY
Solar Power Inc. installs PV array on movie studio
Chris Meehan
Feb 28, 2011
The spotlight shining on actors shooting movies at Twentieth Century Fox Film’s historic Building 99 is powered by the sun thanks to a new photovoltaic array on its roof. On Feb. 22 Solar Power, Inc. (OTCBB: SOPW) said it completed the installation of a 160-kilowatt photovoltaic array.
It’s just the latest effort of parent company, New Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NWS), larger sustainability campaign dubbed the Global Energy Initiative.
Solar Power Inc. installed the system using its SkyMount racking system. The racking system is unique in that it’s adaptable to various rooftops with minimal rooftop penetration. And it was able to conform to the barrel-shaped roof of the building, according to a Solar Power case study of the system.
The Twentieth Century Fox Film solar installation was designed to provide power for onsite use.
“It’s behind the meter, used to power onsite needs and reduce the amount of electricity they get off the meter,” said Solar Power, Inc. Vice President of Marketing Mike Anderson. He wasn’t sure what percentage of power consumed at the Fox Film site would come from the array. “I can tell you it’s not offsetting all their power, just a portion.”
At present, this is the only project that Solar Power has with the film studio’s parent company News Corp. But it’s not the only sustainability project that News Corp. has underway through its Global Energy Initiative projects. It’s also installing a 4.1-megawatt photovoltaic array at its 2,000 employee Dow Jones headquarters in South Brunswick, N.J.
When completed, the Dow Jones array will provide 50 percent of the facility’s electric needs during peak-sunlight hours. In December, 2.5 megawatts, 60 percent, of that installation was completed, powered on and connected to the grid, News Corp. said.
The phase was also completed four months ahead of schedule.
Under News Corp.’s Global Energy Initiative, the company has been reducing its carbon footprint and energy use. In 2010, the company purchased 642,765 metric tons of carbon dioxide offsets.
“Enough to cover our entire fiscal year 2010 carbon footprint,” the company said.
The offsets included such diverse things as investments in landfill gas collection, wind farms and biomass projects. Its efforts were enough to earn the media conglomerate the second highest rating among S&P 500 companies in the 2010 Carbon Disclosure Report.
Solar Power has another potential array in the works with another studio, Anderson said.
“We are looking at other major motion picture studios that are looking to mitigate energy cost and those that are looking to grow their sustainability initiatives,” he said. “Solar generation becomes something they tend to look at pretty quickly. It makes economic sense and environmental sense.”
Chris Meehan
Feb 28, 2011
The spotlight shining on actors shooting movies at Twentieth Century Fox Film’s historic Building 99 is powered by the sun thanks to a new photovoltaic array on its roof. On Feb. 22 Solar Power, Inc. (OTCBB: SOPW) said it completed the installation of a 160-kilowatt photovoltaic array.
It’s just the latest effort of parent company, New Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NWS), larger sustainability campaign dubbed the Global Energy Initiative.
Solar Power Inc. installed the system using its SkyMount racking system. The racking system is unique in that it’s adaptable to various rooftops with minimal rooftop penetration. And it was able to conform to the barrel-shaped roof of the building, according to a Solar Power case study of the system.
The Twentieth Century Fox Film solar installation was designed to provide power for onsite use.
“It’s behind the meter, used to power onsite needs and reduce the amount of electricity they get off the meter,” said Solar Power, Inc. Vice President of Marketing Mike Anderson. He wasn’t sure what percentage of power consumed at the Fox Film site would come from the array. “I can tell you it’s not offsetting all their power, just a portion.”
At present, this is the only project that Solar Power has with the film studio’s parent company News Corp. But it’s not the only sustainability project that News Corp. has underway through its Global Energy Initiative projects. It’s also installing a 4.1-megawatt photovoltaic array at its 2,000 employee Dow Jones headquarters in South Brunswick, N.J.
When completed, the Dow Jones array will provide 50 percent of the facility’s electric needs during peak-sunlight hours. In December, 2.5 megawatts, 60 percent, of that installation was completed, powered on and connected to the grid, News Corp. said.
The phase was also completed four months ahead of schedule.
Under News Corp.’s Global Energy Initiative, the company has been reducing its carbon footprint and energy use. In 2010, the company purchased 642,765 metric tons of carbon dioxide offsets.
“Enough to cover our entire fiscal year 2010 carbon footprint,” the company said.
The offsets included such diverse things as investments in landfill gas collection, wind farms and biomass projects. Its efforts were enough to earn the media conglomerate the second highest rating among S&P 500 companies in the 2010 Carbon Disclosure Report.
Solar Power has another potential array in the works with another studio, Anderson said.
“We are looking at other major motion picture studios that are looking to mitigate energy cost and those that are looking to grow their sustainability initiatives,” he said. “Solar generation becomes something they tend to look at pretty quickly. It makes economic sense and environmental sense.”
Monday, February 7, 2011
EU grows up? down? sideways?
European Parliament gets tough on WEEE directive
TechEye talks to TCO
07 Feb 2011 13:29 | by Andrea Petrou | posted in Business
0 Comments
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European Parliament gets tough on WEEE directive -
The European Parliament is tightening up on electronic waste policies, adding new pieces of legislation to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.
It has voted for tougher regulations on the disposal of electronic trash, requiring each country to collect 4kg of e-waste per citizen by 2012, and to process 85 percent of all electronic waste by 2016.
According to TCO Certified, the E-waste stream is growing at a rate three times faster than the overall waste stream. The organisation said that researchers estimate that the amount of global E-waste will be close to 73 billion kg annually by 2015.
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The fact that only a fraction of the E-waste produced today is recycled responsibly adds to the problem. Computers and office electronics account for 40 percent of lead and 70 percent of heavy metals, including mercury and cadmium, in landfills.
It said this shows not only how polluting these products are but also what a waste of resources it is, according to the Basel Action Network the average PC contains up to 27 different kinds of metals of various hazardousness. Many of these metals are scarce and getting more and more difficult and expensive to mine.
Before the WEEE directive was put into force in 2008, both manufacturers and countries would export their electronic waste illegally to third world countries, where it was disposed of in unsafe ways.
Now the European Parliament has decided that it wants a higher collection target and a separate reuse target. Both were pushed through after delays from October with a majority of 580 votes to 37.
In addition MEPs recommend a 50-75 percent recycling target, and suggested a separate re-use target, initially set at five percent.
They also addressed the problem of large volumes of e-waste being falsely declared as ‘reusable' and illegally exported to developing countries.
To ensure these shipments are reduced, they want stricter inspections of deployments, as well as ensuring the exporter should carry the burden of proof that the goods are actually reusable.
According to Emma Sjögren at TCO Certified, this is especially important as these products contain halogenated substances and chemicals and materials containing chlorine and bromine are causing concern in developing countries without recycling facilities today. Uncontrolled Incineration of brominated and chlorinated compounds forms other compounds such as dioxins and furans, many of them highly toxic and, for example, carcinogenic.
"Many of these substances are known to have serious health and environmental effects (most substances are not yet tested). Brominated flame retardants have been used for over 30 years to prevent the ignition of a material and limit the spread of fire," she told TechEye.
"The purpose of flame retardants is to provide protection throughout the product lifecycle. Therefore, they are deliberately constructed not to degrade meaning that once in the environment they persist, often transported by air and water far away from the initial point of pollution.
She added that it was primarily when the IT products were scrapped that problems arise.
"The substances containing bromine and chlorine leak out and, because their degradability is poor, they remain in the environment for a long time," she said.
"Only a small proportion of the world’s electronic goods are reused in a controlled way – for example, large numbers of end-of-life products are shipped to Asia or Africa where they are burned in backyards without any protective equipment – so this is a major and growing problem."
TCO added that as long as these chemicals were used, and the recycling of electrical products are not controlled, the quantities of brominated and chlorinated flame retardants in the environment will increase.
"Even if their use were discontinued today, they would remain in the environment long into the future," Emma added.
TechEye talks to TCO
07 Feb 2011 13:29 | by Andrea Petrou | posted in Business
0 Comments
Bookmark and Share
European Parliament gets tough on WEEE directive -
The European Parliament is tightening up on electronic waste policies, adding new pieces of legislation to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.
It has voted for tougher regulations on the disposal of electronic trash, requiring each country to collect 4kg of e-waste per citizen by 2012, and to process 85 percent of all electronic waste by 2016.
According to TCO Certified, the E-waste stream is growing at a rate three times faster than the overall waste stream. The organisation said that researchers estimate that the amount of global E-waste will be close to 73 billion kg annually by 2015.
Control your PCs and Macs over the web, get a Free Trial now!
Ads by TechClicks
The fact that only a fraction of the E-waste produced today is recycled responsibly adds to the problem. Computers and office electronics account for 40 percent of lead and 70 percent of heavy metals, including mercury and cadmium, in landfills.
It said this shows not only how polluting these products are but also what a waste of resources it is, according to the Basel Action Network the average PC contains up to 27 different kinds of metals of various hazardousness. Many of these metals are scarce and getting more and more difficult and expensive to mine.
Before the WEEE directive was put into force in 2008, both manufacturers and countries would export their electronic waste illegally to third world countries, where it was disposed of in unsafe ways.
Now the European Parliament has decided that it wants a higher collection target and a separate reuse target. Both were pushed through after delays from October with a majority of 580 votes to 37.
In addition MEPs recommend a 50-75 percent recycling target, and suggested a separate re-use target, initially set at five percent.
They also addressed the problem of large volumes of e-waste being falsely declared as ‘reusable' and illegally exported to developing countries.
To ensure these shipments are reduced, they want stricter inspections of deployments, as well as ensuring the exporter should carry the burden of proof that the goods are actually reusable.
According to Emma Sjögren at TCO Certified, this is especially important as these products contain halogenated substances and chemicals and materials containing chlorine and bromine are causing concern in developing countries without recycling facilities today. Uncontrolled Incineration of brominated and chlorinated compounds forms other compounds such as dioxins and furans, many of them highly toxic and, for example, carcinogenic.
"Many of these substances are known to have serious health and environmental effects (most substances are not yet tested). Brominated flame retardants have been used for over 30 years to prevent the ignition of a material and limit the spread of fire," she told TechEye.
"The purpose of flame retardants is to provide protection throughout the product lifecycle. Therefore, they are deliberately constructed not to degrade meaning that once in the environment they persist, often transported by air and water far away from the initial point of pollution.
She added that it was primarily when the IT products were scrapped that problems arise.
"The substances containing bromine and chlorine leak out and, because their degradability is poor, they remain in the environment for a long time," she said.
"Only a small proportion of the world’s electronic goods are reused in a controlled way – for example, large numbers of end-of-life products are shipped to Asia or Africa where they are burned in backyards without any protective equipment – so this is a major and growing problem."
TCO added that as long as these chemicals were used, and the recycling of electrical products are not controlled, the quantities of brominated and chlorinated flame retardants in the environment will increase.
"Even if their use were discontinued today, they would remain in the environment long into the future," Emma added.
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