Restriction Of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)

Restriction Of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is the restriction of hazardous substance materials found inelectrical and electronic products. The EU wants to restrict the use of six substances and the restriction will come into the market from 1st July 2006.

The 6 hazardous substances:

• Lead (Pb)
• Hexavalent chromium (Cr +6)
• Mercury (Hg)
• PolyBrominated Biphenyl (PBB)
• Cadmium (Cd)
• PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE)

These substances are unsafe to humans and our environment. Their restriction will assist with a cleaner and greener environment for generations to come. Wikipedia has a very indepth article on the subject: “Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive“. See also the UK RoHS site.

All large manufacturing companies will be leading the way to have the substances above restricted in the equipment they manufacture. What we will see is all new equipment with this RoHS compliancy. Examples of large organisation’s responses to RoHS include:

• Product Content Declaration for IBM Suppliers
• Baseline Environmental Requirements for Supplier Deliverables to IBM
• HP’s Product Environmental Requirements

Now just because you don’t have RoHS materials, don’t worry. It won’t matter, just remember to dispose of your equipment safely so it doesn’t contaminate the environment.

Many customers like you have sold equipment to Computer Merchants. Some of this equipment is obsolete and of no commercial value so we arrange for the disposal to be performed by our certified partner Admax. This ensures the impact on our environment is kept to a minimum.

See also: Your Refurbished Hardware (How We Recycle The Computer We Buy From You), Green Since 1979 And Getting Greener, our Environment Articles.