Product Life-Cycle Management is a key concern of today’s global businesses and disposal considerations are becoming an integral part of product design in today’s world. And nowhere is this more important than in the Electronics Industry. So it is no surprise that IEC has just released the new IEC/TR 62635, “Guidelines for end-of-life information provided by manufacturers and recyclers and for recyclability rate calculation of electrical and electronic equipment.” The document is available now from Document Center Inc. in either paper or pdf format.
IEC/TR 62635:2012 provides a methodology for information exchange involving EEE (Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical) manufacturers and recyclers. It also provides guidance for calculating the recyclability and recoverability rates to provide information to recyclers to enable appropriate and optimized EoL (End of Life) treatment operations, provide sufficient information to characterize activities at EoL treatment facilities in order to enable manufacturers to implement effective ECD (Environmentally Conscious Design), evaluate the recyclability and recoverability rates based on product attributes and reflecting real end-of-life practices.
End-of-life information is an important aspect of Eco-Design and environmental risk management. In addition to IEC 62635, Technical Committee 111, Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems, has developed these other standards that you may find of interest:
- IEC 62321 Ed 1.0 (2008-12), Electrotechnical products – Determination of levels of six regulated substances (lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers)
- IEC 62430 Ed 1.0 (2009-02), Environmentally conscious design for electrical and electronic products
- IEC 62474 Ed 1.0 (2012-03), Material declaration for products of and for the electrotechnical industry
- IEC/TR 62476 Ed 1.0 (2010-02), Guidance for evaluation of product with respect to substance-use restrictions in electrical and electronic products
- IEC/PAS 62545 Ed 1.0 (2008-01), Environmental information on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EIEEE)
- IEC/PAS 62596 Ed 1.0 (2009-01), Electrotechnical products – Determination of restricted substances – Sampling procedure – Guidelines