Windmills and WEEE

First published in CIWM Journal July 2010

The Environment Committee in the European Parliament voted in early June on the revision of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive.

The RoHS Directive – which was first proposed in 2002 and entered into force in 2004 – is a “sister directive” of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation. Both directives aimed to increase the recovery and recycling of electronic or e-waste, and set up recovery schemes for consumers. Despite these measures, the European Commission claims today that only one-third of electroscrap is collected and treated separately.

When it announced the revision of the WEEE and RoHS Directives in December 2008, the European Commission said its main objective was to improve the implementation and enforcement of the legislation, as well as to reduce the administrative burden. Improvement and simplification was the name of the game as well as the proposal of “higher, but more flexible targets” for collection and recycling. Certainly mountains of kettles, toasters, MP3 players and home computers containing heavy metals and potentially hazardous substances present a waste issue which cannot be ignored in a society that values consumption and technological innovation.

The illegal trade of waste to outside the EU was also something the Commission wanted to address, as well as boosting the market in valuable recovered raw materials.

By highlighting heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium, as well as hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers in RoHS, the Commission wanted manufacturers of electronics to phase these substances out of production. Yet, at the time of the proposed revision, the Commission said that many products not complying with the substance restrictions had been found on the EU market.

In the revision of the RoHS Directive, the Commission proposed the inclusion of medical devices and monitoring and control instruments. What it never intended was an idea tabled by the Swedish EU Presidency to include all electronic and electrical equipment, beyond the original scope of household equipment. This so-called “open scope” would have included fixed installations, such as escalators and renewable energy installations.

In terms of sustainability and carbon footprint considerations, what greater nonsense than to penalise renewable energy installations by treating them as household waste? How can the EU meet its climate and renewables objectives if solar panels and windmills are treated along with coffee machines and calculators?

The argument given by those in favour of including renewables in the scope of the Directive was that certain RoHS substances are used in windmills and solar panels, such as lead solder or cadmium telluride semi-conductors in thin film solar panels. Cadmium telluride is a stable compound of cadmium and tellurium.

However, large power-producing installations should not end up being scrapped in the household waste stream at their end of life. This equipment is installed, maintained and uninstalled at end of life by professionals.

At least one producer of thin film solar panels has its own take-back and recycling programme and an initiative called PV CYCLE is grouping thin film producers in a voluntary collection and recycling scheme.

The carbon footprint of thin film solar and wind turbines is so much smaller than other renewables and fossil fuels that the proposed “open scope” was clearly counterintuitive, something which was firmly recognised by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament when it came to vote.

The Committee voted to completely exclude renewables from the RoHS Directive and even adopted a “recital” to express its support for renewables. Large, fixed installations – like escalators – were also excluded.

When compared with fossil fuels, which emit heavy metals directly into the atmosphere, the life cycle analysis of renewables is much more positive. Potentially taking certain products off the market and only leaving their more energy-intensive competitors would have been a disaster for both European competitiveness and EU climate goals.

Recovering valuable metals from WEEE is something that has been covered in this column before, but recent findings from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) show that too few metals are recycled.

The UNEP report, Metal Stocks in Society: Scientific Synthesis, said that boosting the recycling rates of both everyday and speciality metals is critical to move the global economy towards clean, environmentally-friendly technologies.

Given the demand for metals and other speciality materials for cleantech applications, such as solar panels and hybrid vehicle batteries, recovering metals which are already in use “above ground” in household items, buildings and ships and products like computers and cell phones is key, according to the UN’s press release.

Not only does recycling metals already above ground provide necessary supplies, but it also provides “the opportunity for reducing energy demand while curbing pollution, including greenhouse gases”, according to the reports’ author Thomas Graedel, a Professor of Industrial Ecology at Yale University.

The reports examined the life-cycles of 62 different metals and found that only a few: iron, platinum, copper and aluminium currently had end-of-life recycling rates of 25-50 percent. Most of the others were not recycled at all.

“This is clearly not sustainable,” Graedel said, stressing that, among other reasons, recycling metals was between two and 10 times more energy efficient than mining them and smelting them from virgin ore.

Developments in China on the protection of its rare earth minerals may also encourage increased recycling as the supply of certain elements may become more tightly controlled. A recent article in the online news service, EurActiv, claimed that the plan to ban exports of key rare earth materials would be a real concern to manufacturers of “high-tech products ranging from computers to electric car batteries and wind turbines”, according to some expert views.

The article claimed that the anticipated ban of exports of Dysprosium, Terbium, Thulium, Lutetium and Yttrium means that alternative supply chains will need to be created outside China. Recovery and recycling should surely be able to meet some of this demand.

The European Commission is also working on a report to define which raw materials are “critical” to EU industry. For companies working in the recycling and recovery field, these initiatives will be worth following.

Photo credit: EcoCafe

Fierce Competition For Green Jobs

Connie Hedegaard, the EU’s Commissioner for Climate Action held a Round Table earlier this month with the heads of some of Europe’s largest companies to discuss how the EU can best maintain its lead in the transition to a climate-friendly, low-carbon global economy.  Top managers from a number of major companies, including BASF, BP, Nokia, Philips, Shell and Siemens were invited to participate in the event.

At a press conference after the Round Table, the Commissioner remarked that global competition for green growth and green jobs is getting fiercer and that Europe no longer leads in the field of renewable energy in terms of the installation of new capacity.  She cited a 2010 renewable energy attractiveness index which now ranks China and the US as the most attractive places for investment in renewables installations.

The Commissioner said business leaders showed a strong belief that Europe should make use of market forces in the transition to a climate-friendly economy.  The price of carbon, for example, should be higher than it is as without it, there is not enough of an incentive to apply and disseminate new technologies and invest in renewables and energy-efficient solutions.  Business leaders also called for a better electricity grid, to get Europe’s infrastructure right in this field.

Gerardus Ruizendaal from Philips noted that next to a good carbon price system and market mechanisms, the EU needs to set clear and demanding standards in terms of the energy-efficiency of products. With such standards he said, companies would innovate, allocate resources, reach these standards and then export on the basis of these standards.

The event was organised against a backdrop of government efforts in many countries to support green infrastructure and clean energy production and boost climate-related research and development,  according to the Commission.

Separately, the European Commission announced last week that emissions of greenhouse gases from EU businesses participating in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) fell 11.6% in 2009 compared with 2008, according to data from Member State registries.  In response, Commissioner Hedegaard said the economic crisis had made it easier for business to reduce their emissions but on the flipside “European business did not invest nearly as much as planned in innovation, which could harm our future ability to compete on promising markets.”

Changes To The Network

We’re happy to welcome Faye Shanley and Anne-Sophie Duchene to the Sustainability Consult Network.  As the snow melts and we move into Spring 2010, we’ve been looking to strengthen the Network, to make the best of the great mix of skills and experience at our disposal.

Faye Shanley comes to us from New York with a background in international relations and Anne-Sophie Duchene is a Brussels old hand, having worked in a number of trade associations and more recently as a freelance consultant. 

They are both an excellent fit with the Sustainability Consult philosophy that being flexible, whether that be for travel, family or just to be open to new experiences, and having choices leads to better quality of work and life.  When we are fulfilled in our personal lives, our work is better and we are more creative.  Our clients notice the difference.

Welcome Ladies!

New UK Govt Stance On Environment

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the UK is setting out its stall on a host of policy issues, including its plans for the environment.  Some of the proposed measures represent a continuation of the policies of the Labour government while others are a departure from previous strategies. 

In its initial negotiations, the Coalition has agreed on a programme of measures to achieve a “low carbon and eco-friendly economy” including a specific commitment to reduce central government carbon emissions by 10 per cent within 12 months.

The new government supports public investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology for four coal-fired stations and seeks to increase the target for energy from renewable sources.  The provision of home energy improvements will be paid for by savings from lower energy bills, according to initial policy statements from the Conservative party.  Also on the agenda are a “green investment bank” and a high-speed rail network, which were previously Labour government initiatives.

The Coalition also intends to set up a smart grid and the roll-out of smart meters and a national recharging network for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

On nuclear power, despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives will allow the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided that they receive no public subsidy.  

Controversially, the new government has ruled out plans for a third runway for Heathrow airport or additional runways at Gatwick and Stansted and the UK’s air passenger duty will be replaced by a new “per-flight” tax.

The new Minister for the Environment is the Conservative MP, Caroline Spelman, who has a background in agriculture.  Liberal Democrat and former MEP Chris Huhne is the new Minister for Energy and Climate Change, something which many environmentalists should presumably welcome, provided his hands are not tied by their coalition partners. 

Another loss in Brussels is former MEP Caroline Lucas, who became the first Green Party Member of the UK Parliament, representing the southern English town of Brighton.

Getting Back On Track

Having overlooked what we advise clients to do, i.e. blog at least once a week, for a little while we are now turning our attention back to the Thought Shower blog.  The learning from this is that keeping a twitter feed active is much easier (click on the button on the homepage to follow us on twitter) and that we need to dedicate time to the blog even when things are really busy.

So what’s been going on in the world of environment policy?  Is Brussels still standing?  Well, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.  The new European Commissioners are now in office and work has begun in earnest.  We are watching the new Climate Commissioner and the Research and Innovation Commissioner with great interest.  Also Commissioner Potocnik who moved from Research to Environment.

The (Research &) Innovation Commissioner has said she wants to create an ‘Innovation Union’ in Europe.  She seems at least to be embracing the idea that innovation should be a horizontal issue across the whole Commission and not just in DG Research.  I’ve just discovered a new blog by an old colleague Nigel Griffiths.  I met Nigel ten years ago when I was a journalist on the introduction of the euro and we’ve kept in touch.  You can read him at http://www.innovationeu.org, home of Innovation Europe, a new publication on innovation which we’re working with for one of our clients.

So what else is new?  Ellie Haag finished her internship and went on to work for an organisation which looks at how business fits into society, an interesting initiative for sure.  And we are working really well with our Network.  There’s so much expertise to draw on within the Network and we are learning by doing, finding the best way to make the most of this great resource.  There is still lots of interest in Sustainability Consult and as such new business is good.  Just one of the new projects we are currently working on is for Oxfam which we’re very excited about.

That’s a quick catch-up.  We are now back on track with the blog.  And the photo?  I just took it.  It’s the sunrise looking down to the sea over the Spanish countryside.  And the socks?  Well, the less we say about the socks the better.

Business As Usual

Hard to believe that the year is already ticking on with plenty of projects underway.  We’re organising Strategic Planning sessions to shape clients’ 2010 strategy.  We’ve been busy doing detailed analysis of last year’s press clippings and are all pleased to see some great results - 46 articles that we placed in 2009 for one client. 

We’re debriefing on the healthcare campaign we ran at the end of last year and going through the great feedback given following the Writing Skills training we did just before the holidays.  Still tying up 2009 means still having one foot in 2009 and only one in 2010.  And it’s time to move on. 

We’ve already done our first new business pitch for the year and started booking 2010 travel.  There’s plenty in the diary and it already feels like a fantastic New Year.  Time to build on the successes of 2009, take away as many learnings as possible and embrace this New Year fully.  Watch this space... we’ll keep you posted.

Back To School Feeling

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.  May it be healthy and sustainable.  We’re back to work and the Christmas greeting on the Sustainability Consult homepage has been replaced with our lovely mountain, but we’ve added it to the blog here to retain every last ounce of Christmas cheer going into the New Year.

New Year, new priorities?  Not really.  We’re absolutely committed still to giving the best and the most creative service to our clients and the media we deal with and trying to make business a better place to operate.  On a more personal level, every year we develop our skills and strive for balance.  My own driving force is to provide the best service while remaining flexible.  It’s a different business model but I feel I’m proving that it works.  Indulging my passion for travel, for living between different locations, for the mountains and open spaces which, still thankfully, fill this earth.  It’s a win-win situation as I know this flexibility fuels my creativity.

Talking of skills, last year’s focus, or you could say fixation, was social media with twitter and friends giving us lots of fun and showing themselves to be a fantastic resource for news and networking.  Follow us at twitter.com/kathrynsheridan or contact us for a training on green blogs. 

Operating in the downturn, we’ve seen many seasoned professionals lose their jobs and embrace freelancing and self-employment to sustain them and their families.  We wish them all the best and look forward to extending our network to make the most of all this expertise which has now become available.  I’m just grateful that we launched Sustainability Consult before the worst of the downturn hit.

All the best,

Kathryn