Explorative study into the sustainable use and substitution of soldering metals in electronics

Abstract

The Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS Directive), among other substances, bans the use of lead in the electrical and electronics industry. This explorative study assesses the worldwide environmental and economical effects of the substitution of lead in solders and finishes. It shows the worldwide additional cost of lead-free soldering compared to soldering with lead-containing solders and finishes. Also the additional consumption of tin, silver, bismuth and other metals, the worldwide additional energy consumption has been studied in detail. A third main subject addressed is how lead-free soldering changes the potential toxicity and the risk of hazardous impacts from waste of electrical and electronics equipment (WEEE). The methodical framework developed enables evaluating the environmental and economical impacts from the three perspectives of sustainable development: efficiency, consistency and sufficiency. In these three domains, a comparison was made between lead-free and soldering with lead-containing solders and finishes. The study develops recommendations for the stakeholders in the manufacturing industry, recyclers and governments on the proper implementation of lead-free soldering. Finally, this work presents the knowledge and the methodical basis for governments to enable decisions on restrictions of hazardous materials that contribute to sustainable development.