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Giraffe has addressed over 4500 companies on WEEE, RoHS and Packaging Eco–Design at public events across the country. We have directly advised over 100 companies in the EU, China and US on how to comply with legislation and improve the environmental performance of their products and processes. We believe these Directives present a good opportunity to improve the design or your company’s products and processes and reduce costs. Giraffe has identified over £23 million of potential savings to British companies. |
FREE CARBON FOOTPRINTING CONSUMER STUDY WITH THE OBSERVER Giraffe’s one–month consumer study with The Observer. Read more ...  Send your examples of over packed products to us »
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WEEE & RoHS » PACKAGING – COST SAVINGS AND COMPLIANCE FROM ECO-PACKAGING DESIGN » EUP DIRECTIVE » |
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WEEE & RoHS The DIRECTIVE 2002/96/EC ON WASTE ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE) AND DIRECTIVE 2002/95/EC ON THE RESTRICTION OF THE USE OF CERTAIN HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN EEE (ROHS) seeks to reduce the amount and toxicity of electrical products going to landfill each year through recycling and recovery targets under 10 broad product categories from mobile phones, computers, and washing machines to electronic test equipment. WEEE is the fastest growing waste stream in Europe, growing at around 8% per year. The onus is placed on the ‘producer’ to finance the end of life product recovery and recycling. This requires manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and designers to consider the implication of their product designs from the outset, to meet their legal obligation under the directives. The original focus of the WEEE Directive was to reduce the one million tons of –household waste’ being disposed of each year, 90% of which goes to landfill or incineration. Article 9 of the Directive places a liability on producers of non–household – so called Business to Business (B2B) electronic waste. RoHS Directive – Do your products comply? "The LMAS/Giraffe workshop cleared up a lot grey areas on the WEEE & RoHS legislation. The practical workshop was instructive identifying components that are RoHS compliant and those that are not. This will help in defining the end of line plan for non–compliant devices." - Quality & Regulatory Manager [International IT company] The RoHS directive restricts the use of four heavy metals (lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI))) and the brominated flame-retardants PBB and PBDE used in some plastics. This directive applies to any new products ‘put onto the market’ in Europe from 1st July this year. Giraffe’s testing service gives manufactures of electronic equipment the opportunity to evaluate their products potential obligation under the Directives as well as assess components and materials for RoHS compliance. Using XRF companies can demonstrate due diligence by ensuring they comply comply with the RoHS Regulations. The X–Ray Fluorescence (XRF) process allows companies to check for the presence of materials restricted under the RoHS Directive. The charts below show an XRF test result comparing two ball grid arrays. The first one shows a high presence of lead (Pb) while the second is lead free. The latter is RoHS compliant. Click here for more information about Giraffe’s RoHS service.  To find out more this service contact: info@giraffeinnovation.com. Back to top ^ PACKAGING – COST SAVINGS AND COMPLIANCE FROM ECO–PACKAGING DESIGN "Working with Giraffe really helped us to consolidate and explore new product opportunities - incorporating brand, technical and environmental factors from the outset." - MD KS Paul Products Ltd [now part of Fuchs GmbH] Giraffe is working with the UK Government, manufacturers and retailers to improve the environmental impact of packaging whilst maintaining function, brand identity and supporting overall market acceptability of the product. Are your products over packed? What is the environmental burden of your company’s packaging? Giraffe has a proven track record in reducing packaging material and compliance costs while improving environmental performance. Giraffe has been working with leading retailers and manufacturers to identify significant reduction in compliance costs through packaging redesign. Could your company reduce its cost of compliance? There are 3 main reasons why your company should consider eco-packaging design. EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC and UK Packaging Waste Regulations targets are increasing each year until at least 2008. Trading Standards starting to look at packaging in more detail. DTI Packaging (Essential Requirements) Legislation 92/64/EC puts an obligation to ensure that ‘packaging shall be manufactured that the volume and weight be limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer’. Are your company’s products over packaged? Consumer Demand There is increasing consumer concern about the environmental impact of products and packaging. Work completed recently for a major supermarket chain showed 63% of consumers believe that packaging affects their choice of product and 66% believe that products are over-packaged. Increased CO2 emissions are associated with the distribution of inefficient or wasteful packaging. Does your company care about the environmental impact of its packaging? If you would like us to look at the environmental impact of your company’s packaging contact: info@giraffeinnovation.com. Back to top ^ EUP Directive EUP – The Proposed Framework for Eco–design Requirements of Energy Using Products Directive (EuP) Directive for Eco–design of End Use Equipment. Objective Since over 80% of all product–related environmental impacts are determined during the product design phase, integrating environmental considerations early into the product development process is the most effective way of reducing their impact. This is what the EuP is trying to address. Requirements on Manufacturers
The EUP Directive sets mandatory requirements for equipment suppliers to adopt and demonstrate the integration of environmental factors in the design and development (and production) and the eco–performance of the product itself. This will be required before placing product on the market. Companies will be required to produce an ‘Ecological Profile’ of a product. This consists of two parts: Generic Eco-design Requirements: Gives general principles and criteria on how eco-design should be applied during product launch. Specific Eco-design Requirements: Specific limits/targets to be met Suppliers of components and sub–assemblies will have to supply the information to allow manufacturers of EuPs to build an ecological profile of their products. The EuP directive attempts to set a common framework under which this should be done for energy using and producing products. It has a much broader scope than WEEE & RoHS. If you would like to find out more about the EUP Directive contact: info@giraffeinnovation.com. Back to top ^ |
Environmental Management Standard
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| Location: Unit 5, Tungsten Building, George Street, Portslade, Brighton BN41 1RA |
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tel: +44 (0) 1273 422099 | |
email: info@giraffeinnovation.com | ||
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