Environmental Regulations

Typical types of legislation are:

• Landfill bans (based upon TCLP below)
• Waste handling and air emissions laws
• Recycling Laws - ARFs (Advanced Recovery Fees – California’s SB50) & Producer Responsibility (WA, OR etc)
• Export restrictions – Basel Convention (not USA) and US Federal CRT rule

Sims Recycling Solutions’s regulatory expertise and depth of knowledge have resulted in us offering a new, expanding consulting service helping electronics manufacturers comply with many of the recycling laws being passed in the Americas.  Many global manufacturers rely on Sims Recycling Solutions for their regulatory compliance.

The RCRA is the principle legislation covering waste management in the USA.  Its principle aims are:

• Protecting human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal.
• Conserving energy and natural resources.
• Reducing the amount of waste generated.
• Ensuring that wastes are managed in an environmentally-sound manner.

Most waste-permitting legislation is derived from the RCRA, as are the TCLP test and Federal CRT rule (below)

The TCLP is a test undertaken by the EPA on wastes that might be destined for landfill. If the waste fails the TCLP it needs to be treated as hazardous waste which limits the disposal routes and is far more expensive. CRT glass from televisions & monitors has been shown to fail TCLP and it is the reason why there are many landfill bans.

Commonly known as Superfund, this law was designed to clean up abandoned hazardous waste disposal sites and authorizes the EPA to identify parties responsible for contamination of sites and compel the parties to clean up the sites. The risk for waste generators (i.e. our customers) is that they will be identified as a "potential responsible party" as a waste generator that had "arranged' for the disposal. It is a key reason why companies should ensure their hazardous electronics are recycled by Sims Recycling Solutions rather than being disposed to landfill.

This rule, issued in July 2006, attempts to prevent the export dumping of CRT-based devices overseas by requiring notification of export to the EPA, even when for reuse.

The General Accountability Office undertook a review in 2008 which indicated that the EPA was not making efforts to enforce this legislation. Since this report many "recyclers" have been investigated for exporting televisions and computer monitors to developing countries.

This European legislation requires the manufacturers of electronics to ensure that end-of-life electronics are recycled across the whole of the 27 EU countries. The Directive has various targets by weight and recovery. Many of the aims of the WEEE Directive have been used in North American to formulate domestic legislation. Sims Recycling Solutions provides WEEE services in many countries in Europe including recycling facilities in the UK, Holland, Germany, Sweden & Belgium.

ROHS requires manufacturers selling new electronics into the EU to minimize and in some cases no longer use, hazardous materials (partly to help facilitate subsequent recycling). Some North American legislation (such as in California) uses the ROHS material restrictions. Many old products contain chemicals which have now been banned by RoHS, but these products will appear in the recycling stream for many years to come.  Sims Recycling Solutions has developed processes to remove and manage components containing these chemicals, further ensuring environmental compliance and protection.

The convention is an international treaty designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between countries and specifically to prevent the movement from developed to developing countries. Of the 172 countries that are Party to the Convention, Afghanistan, Haiti and the USA have yet to ratify it. Many waste electronics are defined as hazardous for the purposes of this legislation and it prevents their uncontrolled export from Canada, but not yet the USA.

This Federal legislation implements Canada's obligations under the Basel Convention and includes the requirement for import and exports permits and manifests for non-whole end-of-life electronics such as broken CRTs.