Materials Science & Technology
Key Environmental Impacts of the Chinese EEE-Industry A Life Cycle Assessment Study
Final Report
Martin Eugster, Roland Hischier / Empa, Switzerland Huabo Duan / Tsinghua University, China
St.Gallen, Switzerland and Beijing, China (2007) 5th October 2007 Supported by:
Martin Eugster, Roland Hischier Empa – Materials Science and Technology Technology and Society Laboratory Lerchenfeldstrasse 5 CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland Phone +41 (0)71 274 74 74 Fax +41 (0)71 274 74 62
[email protected] [email protected]
Huabo Duan Tsinghua University Department of Environmental Science and Engineering CN-100084 Beijing, China Phone +86 10 6278 2029 Fax +86 10 6277 2048
[email protected] i
Table of Contents
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................... 1
2
METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 6
3
4
5
6
7
2.1
GENERAL APPROACH ................................................................................................... 6
2.2
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT METHOD .............................................................................. 7
2.3
APPROXIMATION PROCEDURE FOR FURTHER E-PRODUCTS ............................................ 9
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT STUDY OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM .......................... 10 3.1
GOAL AND SCOPE DEFINITION .................................................................................... 10
3.2
INVENTORY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 14
3.3
IMPACT ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................. 24
3.4
INTERPRETATION OF THE LCA STUDY .......................................................................... 41
KEY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF MAJOR CHINESE E-PRODUCTS ................. 42 4.1
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXAMINED CHINESE E-PRODUCTS ................................ 42
4.2
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE VARIOUS DEVICES......................................... 43
4.3
DETAILED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE MANUFACTURING PHASE ............................ 45
4.4
DETAILED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE USE PHASE ................................................ 46
4.5
RELEASE OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN THE END-OF-LIFE PHASE .............................. 47
4.6
DOMESTIC E-WASTE GENERATION ............................................................................... 49
4.7
E-WASTE IMPORTS ..................................................................................................... 54
CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS............................................................ 56 5.1
CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 56
5.2
POLICY IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................ 58
ANNEX ............................................................................................................................ 62 6.1
ANNEX 1 – TRADE DATA ............................................................................................. 62
6.2
ANNEX 2 – LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ 75
6.3
ANNEX 3 – LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... 78
LITERATURE .................................................................................................................. 83
ii
List of Abbreviation
ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BAN
Basel Action Network
CE
Consumer Electronics
CED
Cumulative Energy Demand
CFCs
Chlorofluorocarbons
CML
Institute of Environmental Sciences (Leiden University)
CRT
Cathode Ray Tubes
CU
Control Unit
DALY
Disability Adjusted Life Years
EEE
Electrical and Electronic Equipment
EIP
Eco-Indicator Points
EoL
End-of-Life
GWP
Global Warming Potential
HCFCs
Hydro Chlorofluorocarbons
HDD
Hard Disk Drive
IC
Integrated Circuits
ICT
Information and Communication Technology
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
LCA
Life Cycle Assessment
LCD
Liquid Crystal Display
LCI
Life Cycle Inventory
LCIA
Life Cycle Impact Assessment
LHAs
Large Household Appliances
MOFCOM
Chinese Ministry of Commerce
MSW
Municipal Solid Waste
MSWI
Municipal Solid Waste Incineration
PBDE
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers
PC
Personal Computer
PCB
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
PDF
Potentially Disappeared Fraction
PDP
Plasma Display Panel
POP
Persistent Organic Pollutants
PSU
Power Supply Unit
PWB
Printed Wiring Board iii
RAM
Random Access Memory
SEPA
Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration
UBP
Umweltbelastungs-Punkte
VDU
Visual Display Unit
WEEE
Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment
WTE
Waste-to-Energy
iv
1
Executive Summary
Introduction China plays a key role in the EEE industry and produces a significant share of the worldwide output. In 2006, 72 million notebook PCs and 229 million desktop PCs were sold worldwide (IDC 2007). China produces 77% of the global output of notebook PCs and 21% of desktop PCs respectively (NBSC 2006). In 2005, global shipments of CRT televisions were 158 million (Display 2007) whereas China has produced 79 million units or 50% (NBSC 2005). Additionally, a large amount of Chinas exports from the EEE industry are components and semi-finished products for final assembling in regional markets, in particular for desktop PCs. The electronics industry is a major economic driver in China. Manufacturing of information and communication equipment make up 10.2% of the countries industrial output value and 6.3% of the industrial profits (NBSC 2006). In 2005, the Chinese electronics industry generated a trade surplus of 65.5 billion US$ or 64.2% of the country’s total surplus (WTO 2006). The export share of notebook PCs and LCD monitors is 94% and 88% respectively, for LCD TVs, mobile phones and CRT monitors an export share higher than 70% is observed. Undeniably, the EEE industry is highly relevant for the Chinese economy and seems to continue being important in the future. This study shall contribute to objectify the discussion on environmental sustainability of the Chinese EEE industry and shall provide a basis to identify intervention strategies for increasing the overall environmental performance of e-products.
Goal and Methodology The sector of e-products is very broad and comprises a vast variety of different types of appliances. The individual characteristics differ significantly in terms of production and disposal processes or material demand and energy consumption. Hence, in order to analyze and interpret the environmental impacts of the entire EEE sector a step-wise approach is chosen in this study: 1)
In a first step a detailed and modular life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis of a desktop PC system is carried out. The functional unit includes an actual desktop PC and peripheral devices like monitor, keyboard and mouse produced in China. Environmental impacts along the whole life cycle (manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment) are quantified. The global distribution and use in different regions are taken into account. For the end-of-life phase a state-of-the-art recycling technology is assumed. (see section 3)
2)
Secondly, key environmental impacts of further e-products are approximated. For this a simplified LCA is carried out for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and for comparison reasons also for a desktop PC 1
system. Again environmental impacts of the main phases manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment are quantified and assessed. (see section 4)
LCA of a desktop PC system A desktop PC consists of a large quantity of components and assemblies, whereas each could be potentially sourced in China or abroad. Hence the supply chain network becomes very complex and barely tangible. It has been observed that components like integrated (logic) circuits (ICs) or LCD modules, two components with a very high technology level for the production (clean room, etc.) are hardly produced currently in China, while simpler materials or assemblies like soldering, fasteners, connectors, cables, fan, resistors, semiconductor devices, CD- or DVDROM, floppy drives, as well as printed wiring boards are produced mainly in China. Thus, for key components like logic ICs, the Chinese electronic industry depends much on imports. In 2006, approximately 47.5 million desktop PCs were produced in China. Thereof about 8.2 million pieces or 17.2% were exported and sold abroad (Custom 2006). The main trading partners for desktop PCs are Asian countries, Europe and North America. Due to high packaging volume of a final assembled PC, often only assemblies and semi-finished products are exported. These material flows are not included in the production and export data of desktop PCs by the national statistics and thus not considered in this LCA study. The LCA study of the desktop PC system shows that the phases manufacturing and use generate very high environmental impacts, while the end-of-life phase can result in a significant environmental benefit. The environmental impacts in the distribution phase are compared to the other phases relatively small (see Figure 1). Within the manufacturing phase of a desktop PC system the most significant environmental impacts are generated in the production of integrated circuits (IC). Three aspects are responsible for this impact – the energy consumption of the process itself, the wafer production and the energy intensive refining of precious metals (here especially Gold). Apart ICs, all further components containing precious metals contribute also in a rather important way to the total impact due to the PC production. Only minor impacts result from the (final) assembling of all components, semi-finished and final products to the actual desktop PC as well as from the subsequent distribution step – even when shipped to Europe or North America. Due to the electricity consumption of the desktop PC in the use phase, significant environmental impacts are generated during the here examined lifespan of six years. Its impacts are directly linked to electricity production and the higher the percentage of fossil-fuels based electricity production (e.g. coal-fired power) the higher the level of damage to human health due to impacts from climate change and the level of damage to resources due to fossil-fuel consumption.
2
45
Eco-Indicator'99 points
30
15
0 Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
End of Life
-15
-30
Human Health
Ecosystem Quality
Resources
Eco-Indicator'99 points
20
15
10
5
0 Desktop
Figure 1
CRT-Screen
LCD-Screen
Human Health
Ecosystem Quality
Keyboard
Mouse
Resources
Environmental impacts in manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life phases (upper graph) and environmental loads of different units of a desktop PC system (lower graph)
In the end-of-life phase the production of secondary raw materials and thereby the avoidance of mineral extraction through substitution (circular flow economy) can compensate negative environmental impacts from recycling and recovery activities or even result in environmental benefits. Informal workshops tend to have inefficient recovery processes for precious metals and can potentially contribute less to the reduction of the overall environmental burden of the EEE chain. Furthermore, severe adverse impacts to the environment can occur in informal sector due to inappropriate recycling, recovery and/or disposal processes.
Key environmental impacts of Chinese e-products From current trade data it is calculated that in 2005 for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and desktop PCs produced in China more than 3.3 millions tons of steel, 1.9 millions tons of plastics, 1.7 millions tons of glass, 0.7 million tons of copper and 0.3 million tons of aluminium was used. Figure 2 shows the respective environmental impact related to this consumption of raw materials. All in all, more than 12% of the total Chinese copper consumption of 5.6 million tons (Nationmaster 2007) comes from the production of e-products. 3
The annual electricity consumption in the use phase of all air-conditioners produced in 2005 is 81’893 GWh. Refrigerators consume 22’881, CRT TV 18’941, PC 8’911 and washing machines 2’790 GWh annually. Thus again, the air-conditioners contribute substantially to the overall environmental impacts in the use phase of eproducts. The low penetration rate of PCs in China and consequently the low level e-waste generation per capita indicates that in China the market for e-products is far away from saturation and still growing. Hence it is expected that the waste volumes will in the near future dramatically further increase. According to the estimates the total domestic e-waste generation will double from 2006 to 2009 and will exceed clearly 3 million tons. There are no statistical data available for illegal imports of e-waste, but it can be assumed that today illegal e-waste imports still occur in China. In this study it is estimated that about 1.5 million tons of e-waste has been imported illegally in 2001.
Eco-Indicator'99 points per Year
2.10E+09
Plastics
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
Glass
Other
1.40E+09
7.00E+08
0.00E+00 PC
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
PC
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
2.8E+09
Eco-Indicator'99 points
2.1E+09
1.4E+09
7.0E+08
0.0E+00
Figure 2
Annual material consumption (upper graph) and annual electricity consumption (lower graph) of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and personal computer produced in 2005 in China, assessed using Eco-Indicator 99 points
4
Conclusions The recovery of material resources in a circular flow economy and an effective and efficient management of hazardous substances are essential. Sustainable processes in terms of economic and ecological performance and social implications are the cornerstone for a continuous sustainability improvement. Finally, the optimal framework for a well functioning system is fundamental and is given by the legal framework and a secure financing system for the external cost. A set of possible measures are proposed and grouped according these main fields of interventions, namely to establish a circular flow economy, to control hazardous substances, to implement sustainable processes and to ensure an optimal legal framework and secure financing. (see section 5)
5
2
Methodology
2.1
General Approach
The sector of electronic and electric equipment (EEE) or e-products is very broad and comprises a vast variety of different types of appliances. The individual characteristics differ significantly in terms of production and disposal processes or material demand and energy consumption. The following figure illustrates the material composition of selected e-products. 100%
Others / unspecified Electronics
80%
Hazardous substances
60%
Glass & Concrete 40%
Plastics
Non-ferrous metals
20%
Ferro metals
Figure 3
Portable Telefon
Personal Computer
Printer
Television
Coffee machine
Electric stoves
Dish washing machine
Washing machine
Refrigerator
0%
Different composition of various electronic and electric equipments (Hischier, Wäger et al. 2005)
Hence, in order to analyze and interpret the environmental impacts of the entire EEE sector a step-wise approach is chosen: •
In a first step a detailed and modular life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis of a desktop PC system is carried out. The functional unit includes an actual desktop PC and peripheral devices like monitor, keyboard and mouse produced in China. Environmental impacts along the whole life cycle (manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment) are quantified. The global distribution and use in different regions are taken into account. For the end-of-life phase a state-of-the-art recycling technology is assumed.
•
Secondly, key environmental impacts of further e-products are approximated. For this a simplified LCA is carried out for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and for comparison reasons also for a desktop PC system. Again environmental impacts of the main phases manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment are quantified and assessed.
6
2.2
Life Cycle Assessment Method
2.2.1
ISO 14’040 and Chinese LCA standards
The environmental impacts of the product chain of a desktop personal computer is quantified and interpreted using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology according to the international standard ISO 14’040 (ISO 1997 – 2006). Within the basic principle of this method, the following steps can be distinguished:
1. Defining the goal and scope of the study (step “A” in Figure 4); 2. Making a model of the product life cycle with all environmentally relevant inflows and outflows. This data collection effort is usually referred to as the lifecycle inventory (LCI) phases (step “B” in Figure 4); 3. Understanding the environmental relevance of all inflows and outflows; this is referred to as the life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase (step “C” in Figure 4); 4. Interpreting the results of the study (step “D” in Figure 4).
The priority and logical relation between each stage are showed in the following chart. Figure 4 shows how these different steps are linked together and it emphasizes the iterative characteristic of the LCA approach.
Figure 4
The different steps of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study according to the ISO technical standard 14’040
In China, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) drafted out and issued national standards for LCA in line with the ISO standard system:
GB/T 24040-1999, identical to ISO 14040 (1999): Environmental Management—Life cycle Assessment—Principles and Framework (SEPA 1999);
7
GB/T 24041-2000, identical to ISO 14041 (1999): Environmental Management—Life cycle Assessment—Goal and scope definition and inventory analysis (SEPA 2000);
GB/T 24042-2002, identical to ISO 14042 (2000): Environmental Management—Life cycle Assessment—life cycle impact assessment (SEPA 2002);
GB/T 24042-2003, identical to ISO 14043 (2000): Environmental Management—Life cycle Assessment—interpretation (SEPA 2003).
2.2.2
Supporting Modelling Tools
Within this study here, the LCI and the LCIA analyses are carried out using the LCA software system SIMAPRO, version 7.0 (Pre 1999).
2.2.3
Inventory Analysis
In the inventory phase, a model is made of the complex technical system that is used to produce, transport, use and dispose an average Chinese desktop PC. This results in a process flow sheet with more than 2’000 processes within the modelling tool. Thereby, for each process, all the relevant inflows and the outflows are collected. New data is partly gathered in China within the scope of this project, or existing data sets from an inventory database are adapted or used directly.
2.2.4
Impact Assessment Method
As impact assessment method the Eco-indicator 99, hierarchist version (Goedkoop and Spriensma 2000) is used here. In this method, the impact analysis categories analyzed are climate change (or global warming), resource consumption (including minerals and fossil fuels), respiratory effects, acidification & eutrophication, land use, carcinogens and ecotoxicity. Within this methodology, these categories are associated to three types of environmental damages:
1. Human Health (unit: DALY= Disability adjusted life years; this means different disability caused by diseases are weighted); 2. Ecosystem Quality (unit: PDF*m2*a; PDF= Potentially Disappeared Fraction of plant species); 3. Resources (unit: MJ surplus energy; Additional energy requirement to compensate lower future ore grade).
Normalisation and weighting are performed at this damage category level (end-point level in ISO terminology). Figure 5 shows an overview of theses various steps within the Eco-Indicator 99 method. 8
Figure 5
General Representation of the Methodology. The white boxes above refer to intermediate results; the other boxes below refer to procedures (for more, see at: http://www.pre.nl/ecoindicator99/eco-indicator_99_introduction.htm)
The whole method is an example for the damage-oriented approach, referring to European conditions. Nevertheless, as there is no specific LCIA method for China available, this method is used here in this study. In the sense of a sensitivity analysis of this chosen method, the main calculations have been made also with further commonly used methods (i.e. CML’01, UBP’97, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), Global Warming according to IPCC). As these further methods don’t end up in significant different results, this report here shows for the majority of the examined aspects the results only with the Eco-Indicator 99.
2.3
Approximation Procedure for further E-Products
For refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and CRT TVs a simplified LCA of material resource use, energy consumption during the use phase, development of the waste generation and potential release of hazardous materials is established. For this, standard environmental data are applied accordingly to a simplified composition analysis of the beforehand mentioned products.
9
3
Life Cycle Assessment Study of a Desktop PC System
3.1
Goal and Scope Definition
3.1.1
Goal of the Study
The goal of this LCA study here is to identify and assess the most significant environmental impacts of a desktop PC system along its complete life cycle – from the extraction of the raw materials, across the production & use, up to the recycling or the final disposal of all non-recyclable parts.
Within this LCA study for a desktop PC system, the specific goals are as follows:
to analyze the environmental impacts along the complete life cycle of a desktop PC system and to quantify the contribution of the phases manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment
to identify the processes which cause the major environmental impacts (hot-spots) of the most relevant life cycle phases
to allocate the major environmental impacts to the most relevant markets for Chinese desktop PCs
3.1.2
Product System and Functional Unit
The functional unit of this study is the complete life-span of one desktop personal computer system as produced in China and used on a global level – a desktop PC system as shown in Figure 6.
Wires Disc driver Loudhailer System components CRT display
Printer Not included Mouse
Key board
Figure 6
Functional unit „ desktop PC system with CRT monitor“ (printer not included)
10
The PC, its various raw materials, components and parts are produced partly in China and partly abroad. Use, and hence the end-of-life treatment occur for this study here on a global level. The effective lifespan of this PC – taking into account an eventual second (or even third) user of this device - is assumed to be six years. From the system shown in Figure 6, four different units are taken into account for this study here: the actual desktop computer without screen, the keyboard, the mouse and the visual display unit (VDU). In this study, for the latter one it is assumed a mixture of CRT monitors (50%) and LCD monitors (50%).
3.1.2.1 Desktop Computer The desktop computer is the central part of such a system; this is where information is processed and stored. It contains the motherboard on which are mounted the electronic circuits necessary for the functioning of the computer. The most central part of the desktop computer is the processor circuit, which is the brain of the computer, directing all the information flows between the different parts of the computer. Besides the motherboard the system contains several drives (e.g. floppy disk, CD-ROM, hard disk drive (HDD)), various specific printed wiring boards (PWB) (e.g. the graphical card), and working memory or RAM (Random Access Memory). All these units consist predominantly of transistors made from semi-conducting materials, mainly silicon. The motherboard is a printed wiring board (PWB), a laminated plate with electric circuits on which is mounted semiconductor components. The memory units of the control unit (CU) can be divided into working memory and the disc memories. The RAM is a temporary storage place, intimately connected to the processor, for information being used when the PC is in the onmode. When the computer is shut down the RAM is emptied. The disc memories, on the other hand, are permanent storage facilities for information. There are three main types of disc memories two based on 19 magnetic technologies, the hard disc and the floppy disc, and one using optical technology, the CD-ROM. The hard disc is permanently installed in the CU and has the highest storage capacity, while the other two are inserted temporarily into special disc drive units.
3.1.2.2 Mouse and Keyboard The mouse and the keyboard are both tools to transform external information into a form that can be stored in one of the PCs memory units. Both mouse and keyboard basically contain plastics and a few electronic circuits to transfer the information provided by the PC operator. Thus, they contain no parts that differ significantly in production in terms of environmental aspects from the CU.
11
3.1.2.3 The Visual Display Unit The VDU is, on the other hand, an output device. This is where information is presented to the operator in an understandable fashion. In this project the type of VDU assessed is the cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor and liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor.
3.1.3
System Boundaries
For this study, the complete life cycle of the above described desktop PC system produced in China – starting with the extraction of the raw materials (metals, raw oil, natural gas, etc.) – until the disposal / recycling of its various devices is taken into account. The distribution and use phases are calculated using international trade data for a desktop PC system produced in China. Figure 7 shows a simplified version of the system like it has been modelled in the LCA software SIMAPRO.
Raw materials, Metals
Raw materials, Plastics
Raw materials, Chemicals
(Mother)board, mounting
Manual Dismantling Recovered Manual Dismantling Materials
Monitor Assembly
Final assembly personal computer
Hard Disk Drive Assembly
Keyboard Assembly
Use of PC
Manual Dismantling
Diode production
Capacitor production
Resistor production
Transistor production
IC, logic type, production
IC, memory type production
Printed wiring board production
LCD Panel Production
CRT Tube Production
Wafer prod. (all types)
Optical Drive Assembly
…
Power Transform. Assembly
Optical Mouse Assembly
Electricity Electricity
Mechanical EoL treatment Final disposal
Figure 7
3.1.4
Simplified system of the examined complete life cycle of a desktop PC system
Assumptions and Limitations
Due to the rather narrow timeframe of this project, it was already decided at the very beginning that only one part of the data will be collected for the specific situation in China, while for the other data, existing public LCI data shall be used. Herefore, the 12
ecoinvent1 database (version v1.3) – currently one of the most comprehensive and most up-to-date LCI database was used. Concerning specific datasets for electronic components and devices, data from a parallel project in our lab – establishing this type of data for the future version v2.0 of the ecoinvent database – are used for this project. All assumptions and limitations of this study can be summarized as the following:
1
The system boundary takes into account all PC systems produced in China. Not part of the system are all those PC systems produced outside China – independently from the fact if they are sold in China or elsewhere.
All components and parts that belong to the desktop PC, to either of the two screens, to the keyboard or to the mouse are included, while further peripherical devices (e.g. printer, scanner) are not part of the study.
The study considers devices with the technology used from 2000 to 2005.
Infrastructure (e.g. production sites, transport means, etc.) are included. Not included are impacts due to the support of these manufacturing facilities (e.g. maintenance of manufacturing plants).
Data for materials and processing processes are taken as far as possible from ecoinvent data v1.3. Specific data about electronics components and devices are from an Empa internal database (basis for future version v2.0 of the ecoinvent database).
For the distribution and use phase only the major markets were considered, namely China, Asia, Europe and North America.
The ecoinvent database (ecoinvent Centre 2006) is one of the most comprehensive inventory databases available at the moment. Version 1.3 of ecoinvent covers most production processes for plastics, metals, chemicals, energy generation and transport processes (with more than 2’500 unit processes). Specific processes for the electronics industry are not available in the actual version, but shall be included in the framework of the update to ecoinvent v2 (release November 2007). 13
3.2
Inventory Analysis
3.2.1
Purpose
In the inventory analysis, a process flow model of the technical system that is examined within the study – here a system to produce, transport, use and dispose a desktop PC system – is established. For each of the processes, all relevant inflows and outflows are collected.
3.2.2
Model description
Within the used model, three different levels of data can be distinguished – as shown in Figure 8. On the level 1, new specific data have been collected specifically for this study. As shown in Figure 8, this is only the case for the desktop computer itself as well as its use. On the level 2, existing datasets from the used database (ecoinvent data v1.3 plus pre-version of data for ecoinvent data v2.0) have been adapted to the project specific situation by small changes (e.g. the European electricity mix is replaced by a Chinese electricity mix, which is based itself on European production chains of the various fuels). On the last level (level 3), data from the mentioned database are used without any changes.
European electricity production
Legend:
CRT production
level 2 data (adapted data)
LCD, final assembly
LCD module
Raw materials
Printed Wiring Boards (various) Electronic components etc. etc.
level 1 data (new specific data)
level 3 data (ecoinvent data)
keyboard production mouse production Desktop Computer production
Use Desktop PC
EoL treatment (State-of-Art)
CRT production LCD, final assembly keyboard production mouse production Chinese and US electricity production
Figure 8
Model of the desktop PC system with the three different levels of data (more: see text)
14
3.2.3
Composition of the Desktop PC System
3.2.3.1 Desktop computer The major elements of an actual desktop computer are the casing, power supply, mother board, hard disk, CD- and floppy drives. Table 1 shows the weight and the material composition of the different parts of the here examined desktop computer.
Table 1
Components and materials for the here examined Chinese Desktop Computer, based on a Pentium IV processor (data taken from (Hikwama 2005))
Parts / component
Weight
Material
Dataset in this study here
Polyester, Al, PVC, Steel,
Printed wiring board, Desktop
Phenol, Epoxy, Cu, Pb,
PC motherboard, mounted, at
(g) Motherboard
970
Printed circuit board with
930
components
Cooling body for processor
40
Ceramic, PP, Si2O3
plant
Aluminum
Aluminium, production mix, wrough alloy, at plant
1.44MB, 3.5 floppy drive
671
Casing
340
Aluminum
Aluminium, primary, at plant
Mechanical part
234
steel
Steel, low-alloyed, at plant
Front cover
8
Aluminum
Aluminium, primary, at plant
PCB with components
31
Polyester, Al, PVC, Steel,
Printed wiring board, surface
Phenol, Epoxy, Cu, Pb,
mounted, unspecified, at plant
Ceramic, PP, Si2O3 Hard disk drive
441
PCB with components
31
HDD, desktop computer, at plant
Polyester, Al, PVC, Steel, Phenol, Epoxy, Cu, Pb, Ceramic, Si2O3
Hard disk plates
101
Assumption: alloy aluminum with coating
Casing
308
Disk drive/ CD-ROM
884
Mechanical part
287
PCB with components
145
Aluminum CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, desktop computer, at plant
Steel Polyester, Al, PVC, Steel, Phenol,
Epoxy,
Cu,
Pb,
Ceramic, PP, Si2O3 Casing Front cover (plastic) ASTEC Power supply
433
Aluminum
19
ABS
1131
Power supply unit, China model, at plant
Electrolytic capacitors
53
Al, Cu, Phenolic resin paper,
Part of PWB
PS Inductor coils
65
PVC, insulated Cu+ Ferrite
Part of PWB
Transformers
122
PVC, insulated Cu+ Ferrite
Part of PWB
Cabinet
561
Steel
Adapted to specific weight
Cooling body
81
Aluminum
Adapted to specific weight
Heat sink
54
Aluminum
Adapted to specific weight
15
PCB with components
79
Cable and plug
116
Desk top cabinet
5’471
Metal frame
2’736
Polyester, Al, PVC, Steel,
Adapted to specific weight
Phenol, Epoxy, Cu, Pb,
(with average composition like
Ceramic, PP, Si2O3
in ecoinvent v2)
Cu, PVC, PS
Adapted to specific weight
Electro plated steel
Steel, low-alloyed, at plant + zinc coating, pieces
Hard disk socket
263
Electro plated steel
Steel, low-alloyed, at plant + zinc coating, pieces
Cover
2’200
Steel
Steel, low-alloyed, at plant
Front
272
ABS
ABS copolymer, at plant
Cables
363
Flat band cable
181
Cu, PS
Mains cable
181
Cu, PVC
Cable, ribbon cable, 20pin, with plugs at plant
2’390
Packaging for Actual desktop computer Box
1’800
Cardboard
Corrugated board, recycling fibre, double, at plant
Insert
415
Cardboard
Corrugated board, recycling fibre, double, at plant
Packaging Material
175
EPS, Sponge
Polystyrene, expandable, at plant + stretch blow moulding
TOTAL
12’358
3.2.3.2 Further devices (CRT Monitor, LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse) All further devices have been modelled simply by using the respective ecoinvent datasets (level 2 and 3 data) – with a change in the electricity input (Chinese mix) for those parts of these devices that are produced in China. The split between China and abroad is established based to the following table and figure (Table 2 and Figure 9 respectively).
Table 2
Geographical distribution of a desktop PC system produced in China Lifespan
China
Abroad
CRT display
50%
80%
20%
LCD display
50%
95%
5%
PWB
40%
60%
IC
5%
95%
others
90%
10%
PC assembly
100%
0
Use stage
90%
10%
End-of-life
90%
10%
Manufacturing
16
Geographical allocation of PC
Pre-manufacturing China
Others 90%
CRT 40%
Guangdong 40%
LCD 47.5%
Pre-manufacturing Abroad
IC 5%
PCB 40%
Tianjin/ Beijing 20%
Jiangsu/zhejiang/shanghai 40%
PCB 60%
IC 95%
South Korean 15.43%
Taiwan 17.45%
CRT 10%
EU 11.58%
LCD 2.5%
Japan 18.12%
Others 10%
ASEAN 23.93%
Others 13.5%
PC manufacturing & assembly China
Beijng 15%
Shanghai 20%
Huizhou Guangdong 15%
Suzhou Jiangsu 20%
Wuxi Jiangsu 15%
Use stage China 90%
Xiamen Zhejiang 15%
Use stage Abroad 10%
31 provinces Shanghai 8.8%
Guangdong 8.6%
Beijing 8.4%
Zhejiang 6%
Jiangsu 5.9%
U.S.A 24.8%
Hong Kong CN 24.4%
EU 23.8%
Japan 8.47%
ASEAN 7.61%
Others 11.8%
End-of-life stage China
Figure 9
End-of-life stage abroad
Geographical situation of production and distribution of desktop PC systems produced in China
From Figure 9 it can be seen that the high-tech products (like e.g. logic ICs or LCD modules) are mainly produced abroad. On the other hand, general parts such as PWB, ferrous-metal and non-ferrous-metal, or packaging materials, are mainly produced directly in China.
17
3.2.4
Transport Data
3.2.4.1 Manufacturing of Components and Devices Currently, more than 50% of the desktop PCs are produced in Beijing, the Jiangsu province, Shanghai, the Zhejiang and the Guangdong provinces; more than 50% of CRT and LCD display are produced in Suzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and Tianjin, and more than 50% of PWB and other components are produced in the Guangdong and the Jiangsu provinces. An overview of these locations is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10
Location of the leading desktop PC, screen and components producers in China
For this study, it was assumed that PC, CRT- and LCD-displays as well as the PWB are to 100% manufactured in the above mentioned locations. Furthermore it was assumed that all further components as well as the materials are distributed similar like the PWB. This results in individual transport distances according to the following table.
18
Table 3
Distance estimation [km] for the transports of screens and PWB towards the desktop PC producing companies in China
Desktop PC producer Located in
Market proportion
PC display producer
PWB producer
Suzhou
Tianjin
Shanghai
Nanjing
Guangzhou
Kunshan
35%
15%
35%
15%
70%
30%
Beijing
15%
1256
100
1241
1000
2238
1256
Shanghai
20%
95
1144
20
200
1438
100
Suzhou
18%
20
1096
95
200
1397
100
Wuxi
15%
50
1096
95
200
1397
20
Xiamen
12%
991
1950
991
991
616
900
Huizhou
20%
1364
2155
1364
1364
50
1397
Hence, the resulting total transport distances within the production are 1’100km per unit for CRT and LCD displays, 1’250km per unit for PWB as well as other electronic components and materials. This distance is split up into 80% transport on the road and 20% transport by train respectively.
However, more than 90% of so-called “high-tech” products (including components like e.g. integrated circuits (IC) or LCD modules) are imported from ASEAN, Japan, South Korean, Taiwan (CN), EU, and U.S.A. According to the actual proportion of the origin of these products and average distances between China and these foreign countries the total amount of transports for such parts / components is calculated in the following table.
Table 4
Distance estimation [km] for PWB distributed in worldwide (1 own estimations in this study; from ecoinvent). Train2
Location
(Malaysia) Japan Taiwan CN
data
Road2
Shipment Ocean
ASEAN
2
China
Abroad
China
Abroad
Domain
Domain
Domain
Domain
25%
22001
600
600
100
100
18%
5401
600
600
100
100
430
1
600
600
100
100
1
600
600
100
100
600
600
100
100
20%
South Korean
16%
410
EU (U.S.A)
21%
213002
This results in a total average transport distance for each foreign component of 5’310 km by ocean ship, 1’310 km by train and 200 km by road.
19
3.2.4.2 Distribution The distribution phase is rather complex – and split up into a national distribution (for the part not going into exportation) and an international distribution. According to Chinese trade data (reported in Table 14 - Table 24 in the Annex of this report here), in 2005 about 14% of the produced desktop PCs have been exported.
On the national level, the distribution involves the spread of the PC product to 31 domestic provinces. Within China, in 2005, the distribution means for commodities were highway, railway and water carriage, which accounted 73%, 15%, 12% respectively (Center 2005). For electronic products, road and railway are the primary choices for distribution. Hence, in this study a distribution of 80% by road and 20% by train is used for the complete desktop PC system (i.e. desktop PC, screen, keyboard and mouse). LCI data for transportation of the finished product between the manufacturer and domestic wholesalers or retailers was calculated based on road travelled by diesel engine trucks and electric engine train in China. As already shown in Figure 10, more than 50% of the desktop PC systems are produced in Beijing, the Jiangsu province, Shanghai, the Zhejiang and the Guangdong provinces. It was defined that PCs are all manufactured in these locations. The sales proportions in the 31 Chinese provinces are shown in details in Table 28 in the annex of this report. According to these proportions of PC consumption in 31 provinces, the total output volume of PC consumed in China, the locations of PC producers and the highway (road) distances from producing to consumption provinces, an average transport distance of 1269 km is calculated per desktop PC unit.
On the international level, it is assumed for this study, that all transports are established using ship transport – and no airfreight transports are taken into account. For the transport distances, own estimations, based on webtools like Google Earth have been used together with the standard distances reported in the ecoinvent methodology (ecoinvent Centre 2006). The resulting numbers are shown in the following table.
Table 5
Distance estimation [km] for the export of Chinese desktop PC systems (1 own estimations in this study; 2 data from ecoinvent). Train2
Location
Road2
Shipment Ocean
China
Abroad
China
Abroad
Domain
Domain
Domain
Domain
Asia
50%
7701
600
300
100
50
North America
25%
213002
600
600
100
100
Europe
25%
213002
600
600
100
100
20
3.2.4.3 End-of-Life (e-waste treatment) No data on transport distances in the end-of-life (EoL) phase were available about the actual situation in China. Hence, in this study here the EoL model is based on European transport distances, as used for the new data of ecoinvent.
3.2.5
Data of the use phase
In this study, a 50:50 split between LCD and CRT technology is assumed. CRT and LCD use different mechanisms to produce images on screen, which result in different energy use rates. Furthermore, this study distinguishes between two patterns of PC use: PC use at home and PC use at the office. The lifetime of the PC is set in all here examined cases to six years. For each case there are three different power consumption modes, going from a state of active use to a state of shut-down. These three modes, from greatest power consumption to least, are typically entitled active mode, standby or sleep mode, and active-off. Hence, a total of 12 different levels of energy consumption have to be distinguished. They are listed in details in Table 6 on the following page.
Thereby home and office users of a computer do not follow the same use patterns. The percentage breakdown of office and home use of PC in the China is deducted from the following figure and assumed as Office: 40%; Home: 60%. 60% 50% 40% 30%
51.81%
20% 10%
35.24% 12.95%
0%
office
Figure 11
home
office and home
Percentages of PC’s Office- and Home-Environment Users in China (2006) (Tianji 2006)
21
Table 6
Average energy consumption of PC’s use stage (per unit) (Note: 1. Including key board and mouse. CRT and LCD monitor account for 50% and 50% respectively.) Office use in China is 252 days per year. Home use is assumed 365 days per year.( * ecoinvent data.)
Office use
Home use
office use
Home use
3.2.6
Computer mode1
h
kWh/h*
desktop, CRT monitor, active mode
6
0.15
desktop, CRT monitor, standby/sleep mode
2
0.045
desktop, CRT monitor, off mode
18
0.005
desktop, CRT monitor, active mode
3
0.15
desktop, CRT monitor, standby/sleep mode
3
0.045
desktop, CRT monitor, off mode
18
0.005
desktop, LCD monitor, active mode
6
0.085
desktop, LCD monitor, standby/sleep mode
2
0.03
desktop, LCD monitor, off mode
18
0.0035
desktop, LCD monitor, active mode
3
0.085
desktop, LCD monitor, standby/sleep mode
3
0.03
desktop, LCD monitor, off mode
18
0.0035
Data of the end-of life phase
3.2.6.1 Possibilities for EoL treatment of computers There are many options are available for the End-of-Life (EoL) treatment of a desktop PC. In principle the following possibilities can be distinguished: •
Reuse. It is often a result of reselling, involves continued use of the PC for the purpose for which it was built, and is considered to occur within its originally intended useful life. Reuse does not usually entail major repairs or modifications, and is a preferred EoL option because the original materials contained in it are put to use for an extended period of time, thus conserving valuable natural resources (energy and raw materials) needed to manufacture new monitors or to dispose of discarded ones. However, reuse could result in reduced energy efficiency during the use stage as e.g. monitor manufacturers continually strive to improve the energy efficiency of their products.
•
Remanufacturing. This is a viable option for those devices or components no longer used but still functional that could be refurbished (upgraded or restored to working conditions) at a cost lower than that of manufacturing a new device, to be sold again in domestic or foreign markets. Here again, energy and raw materials are conserved, though some new parts/components may be required. Another important benefit here is solid waste reduction, achieved by diverting the materials away from the landfill.
22
Remanufacturing processes span a wide range of activities, from as little as replacing button tops to as extensive as testing and replacing PWB or transformers. •
Recycling. This involves recovering the individual components (recycling of functions) and materials (material recycling) from a device, to be used in the production of same type of devices (closed-loop recycling) or in other products (open-loop recycling). Identification, sorting, cleaning, and further processing (e.g., smelting) are often required before the recovered materials can be used again. Though materials recycling involve several processing steps, it results in most cases in a conservation of energy and raw materials, and diversion of materials that would otherwise have been landfilled, through the creation of new, desirable products that are in-line with current market demand.
•
Disposal. A portion of devices is usually similar to municipal solid waste (MSW) sent to incinerators or municipal waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities for energy recovery. Landfilling solid waste in hazardous or non-hazardous landfill sites is the least preferred option, since all the other options have some expected environmental benefits.
3.2.6.2 Data used in this study Here, the EoL process foreseen for ecoinvent data v2.0 is used. This represents the state-ofthe-art treatment of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) or e-waste – i.e. it is a picture of how a formal e-waste treatment channel could work currently. The here used data could be characterized in brief as the following: •
Mixture of manual dismantling of devices (23%) and mechanical treatment (e.g. shreddering) after a manual de-toxification (77%);
•
Specific further treatment steps for cables (shredding, grinding, separation of plastics and copper), batteries (various metallurgical treatment possibilities) and various waste fractions (e.g. capacitors -> incineration in a hazardous waste incinerator);
•
50% plastics recovery (e.g. recycling) and 50% incineration in a municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI).
The informal sector present in China is not taken into account in the LCA study here due to a lack of respective data.
23
3.3
Impact Assessment
At the centre of this specific part of the overall project is the examination of the complete life cycle of a desktop PC system, including visual display unit, keyboard, and mouse (as described in the preceding chapter). As standard LCIA methodology, the method of EcoIndicator 99 (for details see 2.2.4) is used for determining the results. In a first part of the results (chapter 3.3.1), the complete life cycle is examined. The most important contributors to the impact of the different life stages are identified and shown in more details. Last but not least, as a sensitivity analysis, the complete life cycle is assessed with further LCIA methods in order to estimate the influence of the here chosen LCIA method on the overall result. The influence of the international trade (i.e. in which market the here presented computer is sold) is examined in a separate chapter (chapter 3.3.2). There, the changes in the impacts of distribution and subsequent use of the PC system as a function of the target market are shown and discussed. As the manufacturing phase is shown to be important within the complete life cycle, the second part of this study (chapter 3.3.3) deals with this phase and its various devices in more details. The final result part (chapter 3.3.4) deals with the EoL phase, showing a more detailed overview of the substitutable primary material efforts due to a recycling, that can be seen as up-to-date for the current status here in Europe.
3.3.1
Environmental impacts along the complete life cycle of a PC
The examination of the environmental impacts related to a desktop PC system (as described in details in chapter 3.2) produced in China and used in China and abroad results in the environmental impacts shown in Figure 12. As this figure shows clearly, the distribution step is of the least importance compared with the remaining life stages. From these remaining three life cycle stages, manufacturing and use seem to be of rather similar importance, while in the end-of-life (EoL) phase substantial environmental benefits are possible. Within the here examined life cycle of a desktop PC system, the environmental impact of the use phase is only due to the use of electricity in the respective geographical area (i.e. the US electricity mix for the amount of PC systems sold to North America!). Hence, the contributions to the impact due to the use phase are equal to those of the respective electricity mixes. In case of the two remaining important phases, e.g. manufacturing and EoL, the respective contributions are shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14. From this figure it can clearly be seen that the main impact is in these stages due to consumption of fossil fuels – i.e. the oil and gas resources as well as the emissions of fossil CO2, SO2 and NOx are important parts of the overall impact. Another important part is due to the metals – as resources, but also as emissions of metals either to air or to water.
24
45
Eco-Indicator'99 points
30
15
0 Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
End of Life
-15
-30
Human Health
Figure 12
Ecosystem Quality
Resources
Global average environmental impacts (in Eco-Indicator 99 points) of the complete life cycle (i.e. manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life treatment) of a desktop PC system produced in China and used globally.
Remaining 21%
crude oil (Res.) 17%
natural gas (Res.) 12%
arsenic (water) 5%
metals (air) 8%
metal (Res.) 6%
PM2.5 (air) 9% nitrogen oxides (air)
Figure 13
sulphur dioxid (air) 8%
carbon dioxide, fossil (air) 6%
Manufacturing phase - the most important exchanges with nature (resource extraction / emissions to air, water, soil) contributing to the overall environmental impact of this specific life stage.
A more detailed insight into the phase of manufacturing – including more information about the origin of these important impacts – can be found in chapter 3.3.3 dealing in details with the most important devices within such a desktop PC system. As already shown in Figure 12 the last life phase – i.e. the EoL phase – leads not to an overall environmental impact but to an overall environmental benefit if state-of-the-art recycling technology is assumed. In Figure 14 the origin of this benefit is shown in more
25
details. It can be seen that (quite similar to the manufacturing phase), the saved fossil resources have a major contribution to this benefit. Further contributors are the saved metal resources, saved land-use amounts, as well as SO2 and NOx emissions to air plus As and Cd emissions to water. The only positive impact in terms of Eco-Indicators points is the emission of Cu to water (negative environmental impact). This is originating from the incineration of the various residue fractions from mechanical treatment of the different devices. A more detailed insight into the phase of dismantling / recycling of a desktop computer – including more information about the origin of these various benefits – can be found in chapter 3.3.4.
remaining part Cu (water) As & Cd (water) metals (air) PM10 (air) nitrogen oxides (air) sulphur dioxid (air) carbon dioxide foss. (air) land-use (Res.) natural gas (Res.) crude oil (Res.) metal (Res.) -20%
Figure 14
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
End-of-Life (EoL) phase - the most important exchanges with nature (resource extraction / emissions to air, water, soil) contributing to the overall environmental impact of this specific life stage (negative values indicate an environmental benefit)
3.3.1.1 Sensitivity analysis – impact of the chosen impact assessment method The complete life cycle – examined with the method of the Eco-Indicator 99, but only for the systems used in China (not for the export models) – is examined here with several other LCIA methods, in order to estimate if there is a bias in the results due to the chosen LCIA method. In Figure 15, the results of the Eco-Indicator 99 is show in comparison with the Swiss Eco-point method (Umweltbelastungs-Punkte - UBP version 1997), and the key factors CED (cumulative energy demand) and global warming (according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC).
26
Eco-Indicator'99
Manufacturing
Distribution
UBP'97
Use
End of Life Manufacturing
Human Health
Ecosystem Quality
Resources
Distribution
CED, non-renewable
Figure 15
Use
Use
End of Life
UBP'97, Total
Cumulative Energy Demand
Manufacturing
Distribution
Global Warming Potential (IPCC)
End of Life
CED, renewable
Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
End of Life
GWP 100a
Comparison of the overall environmental impacts in the life cycle of a desktop PC system with various LCIA methods: Eco-Indicator 99 (top, left), Swiss Eco-points (top, right), Cumulative Energy demand (bottom, left) and Global Warming (bottom, right)
All four methods and factors respectively, show a rather similar picture – having the manufacturing and the use phase as the most important ones. The distribution stage can be neglected in according the LCIA methods – while however, the EoL shows for the Swiss Ecopoint method a different picture than for the three other methods. This is due to the high weighting of the copper emissions to water – resulting in an overall impact for the EoL phase. Another important and widely used LCIA method is the so-called CML’01 method. This is a method that doesn’t aggregate the various environmental impacts – but keeps them all separated. Hence no overall impact can be calculated.
Figure 16 on the next page shows the results of the overall life cycle of a desktop PC system produced and used in China expressed with the most important impact factors of the CML’01 method. As can be seen from this figure, with one exception all factors are showing a rather similar picture to the aggregated result of the Eco-Indicator 99 method (in Figure 12). There are small differences – e.g. manufacturing has a higher impact than the use phase in case of “eutrophication” and “ozone layer depletion”. The exception of this conclusion is the factor “freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity” as in this factor, the EoL phase has the highest environmental impact (higher than use and manufacturing), due to the high Cu emissions from the incineration of plastics from e-waste in Swiss municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants.
27
CML / abiotic resources
Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
CML / global warming 100a
End of Life
Manufacturing
CML / acidification
Distribution
Use
End of Life
Manufacturing
Use
End of Life
Manufacturing
Use
fresh water aquatic ecotox.
Figure 16
End of Life
Distribution
Use
End of Life
terrestrial ecotoxicity
CML / freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity
Distribution
Use
End of Life
human toxicity
Manufacturing
Distribution
CML / terrestrial ecotoxicity
Manufacturing
Use
End of Life
photochemical oxidation
CML / human toxicity
Distribution
Use
CML / photochemical oxidation
ozone layer depletion (ODP)
Manufacturing
Distribution
eutrophication
CML / ozone layer depletion
Distribution
End of Life
CML / eutrophication
acidification
Manufacturing
Use
global warming (GWP100)
abiotic depletion
Manufacturing
Distribution
CML / marine aquatic ecotoxicity
End of Life
Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
End of Life
marine aquatic ecotoxicity
The overall life cycle of a desktop personal computer, evaluated with the CML’01 method.
All in all, these figures here justify sufficiently the use of only the Eco-Indicator 99 as LCIA method for the further examination within this study here.
28
3.3.2
Key environmental impacts due to international trade
3.3.2.1 Environmental impact of the distribution to the various global markets Based on the transport means and distances described in chapter 3.2.4.2 (Table 5), the resulting environmental impact due to the distribution of one desktop PC system produced in China to the major market regions has been calculated and is shown in Figure 17.
1
Eco-Indicator'99 points
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 China
Europe
America
Human Health
Figure 17
Asia
Ecosystem Quality
Average
Resources
Environmental impact (in Eco-Indicator 99 points) of the distribution of one desktop PC system produced in China to the four major markets (more details see chapter 3.2.4.2) as well as global average value, based on the current export rates.
It can be seen from Figure 17 that between the lowest load due to the distribution (i.e. to the other Asian countries) and the highest load (to Europe and North America) a factor of more than 5 can be found – however, even the latter ones have an environmental load that is still about a factor of 40 smaller than the manufacturing phase of the desktop PC system examined here. Hence, the distribution is even on an international scale of no relevance for the here examined desktop PC system.
3.3.2.2 Environmental impact of the use phase in the various global markets As already shown in Figure 12, manufacturing and use phase are of rather similar importance. The resulting impacts from using one desktop PC system produced in China in different geographical regions with different electricity mixes are shown in Figure 18.
29
45
Eco-Indicator'99 points
36
27
18
9
0
Manuf.
China
Europe Human Health
Figure 18
America
Asia
Ecosystem Quality
Average Resources
Environmental impact (in Eco-Indicator 99 points) of the use phase – results for the use of one desktop PC system produced in China in the four major markets (more details see chapter 3.2.4.2) as well as global average value, based on the current export rates. For comparison reason, the total load during the manufacturing phase of a desktop PC system is shown on the left side (row “Manuf.”).
There is a difference between the Chinese electricity mix as the one with the highest environmental load, and the European electricity mix with the lowest load of about 30% lower however, even the latter one leads to a use phase that still has about 80% of the environmental load of the manufacturing of this desktop PC system. Going one step further down – on a national electricity grid level – would make the differences even bigger as national electricity mixes in Europe vary very much. In the framework of this study such more detailed analysis has not been established.
3.3.3
Key environmental impacts in the manufacturing phase
3.3.3.1 Comparison of the various parts of a desktop PC system Within the manufacturing phase, a comparison is established between the various parts that belong to a complete Desktop PC – i.e. the desktop computer itself, the screen (whereas two different technologies are in use – CRT and LCD – both accounted as 100%), the keyboard and the mouse. A comparison of these different devices is shown in Figure 19. It can clearly be seen that the most important devices are the desktop PC itself as well as the visual display units – independently from the actual technology chosen. The same fact can also be seen in Figure 20, showing a flow diagram of the most important environmental impacts of the manufacturing of the here examined desktop PC system (i.e. a system with 50% CRT and 50% LCD screen). From this figure it can be seen that the integrated circuit (IC), logic type, is the most important process step within the overall production chain.
30
Eco-Indicator'99 points
20
15
10
5
0 Desktop
Figure 19
CRT-Screen
LCD-Screen
Human Health
Ecosystem Quality
Keyboard
Mouse
Resources
Environmental loads of the different parts of a desktop PC system. The production of one computer is compared with the production efforts of a 17-inch CRT screen, a 17-inch LCD screen, a keyboard and an optical mouse.
In Figure 21 it is shown that this impact is due to the following three aspects of the IC production:
the used heat energy (here produced by heavy fuel oil);
the wafer production process (and there especially the disposal of waste out of the wafer production in a corresponding landfill site);
the used amount of gold (precious metal) – and the therefore requested efforts in mining and further processing.
Within the last part – i.e. the used amount of gold – in the end, it is again the amount of fossil fuels (here diesel and natural gas) but also the disposal of sulphidic tailings (i.e. non-gold containing raw materials in the mining site that are put onto mining waste heaps) that are at the origin of this impact.
31
Figure 20
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a desktop computer system. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
Figure 21
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a logic type IC. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 2.5% to the overall result.
32
3.3.3.2 Manufacturing of the desktop PC According to Figure 19, the desktop computer itself has the highest environmental impact of all the different devices used here. Hence, a more detailed view on this specific device is done in this chapter here.
Production of a Desktop Personal Computer in China production packaging
Eco-Indicator'99 points
12
cables 5% housing 8% PSU 11%
10 8
CD-ROM 8%
6
3%
1%
motherboard 54%
HDD 6% floppy disk 4%
4 2
Figure 22
Human Health
Ecosystem Quality
production
packaging
cables
housing
PSU
CD-ROM
HDD
floppy disk
motherboard
0
Resources
Environmental loads of the different pieces within a desktop PC. The production efforts (right side) are compared with the composition shown in Table 1.
In Figure 22 and Figure 23 it can be seen that the motherboard is responsible for more than 50% of the overall environmental load in the production of a desktop PC. All remaining parts (drives, but also housing or the power supply unit, PSU) are only of minor interest from an environmental point of view. Similar conclusion can be drawn for the production itself (i.e. the infrastructure, transport amounts to bring all pieces to the assembly site, the used energy as well as the infrastructure, e.g. the building) – this part is only of minor interest compared to the load due to the motherboard. From Figure 23 it can be seen– again – that the IC production arises as the most important part within the complete desktop PC production. Due to the importance of the IC, actually the complete motherboard is getting the most important part within such a computer from an environmental point of view.
33
Figure 23
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a desktop PC. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
3.3.3.3 Manufacturing of the CRT monitor According to Figure 19, a 17-inch CRT screen has the second highest environmental impact of all the different devices used here. Hence, a more detailed view on this specific device is done in this chapter. From Figure 24 it can be seen that there are three important parts within a CRT screen – the printed wiring board (due to the ICs), the used chromium steel as well as the CRT tube itself. In Figure 25 it can be seen that these three parts – CRT tube, electronics and housing – are responsible for more than 80% of the environmental impact of such a device. As for the desktop computer, it can be concluded that the production itself (i.e. the infrastructure, transport amounts to bring all pieces to the assembly site, the used energy as well as the infrastructure, e.g. the building) is only of minor interest compared to the load due to the three above mentioned parts of a 17-inch CRT device.
34
Figure 24
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a 17-inch CRT screen. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
production 5%
packaging
2% Production of a CRT-Screen (17-inch) in China cables 9%
Eco-Indicator'99 points
7
CRT tube 33%
6 5
housing 30%
4
electronics 21%
3 2 1
Human Health
Figure 25
Ecosystem Quality
production
packaging
cables
housing
electronics
CRT tube
0
Resources
Environmental loads of the different pieces within a 17-inch CRT Screen.
35
3.3.3.4 Manufacturing of the LCD monitor According to Figure 19, the 17-inch LCD screen has the third highest environmental impact of the different devices used here. Hence, a more detailed view on this device is done in this chapter. production
19% (17-inch) in China Production of the LCD-Screen
Eco-Indicator'99 points
9
packaging 2%
LCD module 60%
housing 3% electronics 16%
6
3
Human Health
Figure 26
Ecosystem Quality
production
packaging
housing
electronics
LCD module
0
Resources
Environmental loads of the different pieces within a 17-inch LCD screen.
In Figure 26 it can be seen that the LCD module is the most important part – with about 60% of the total load of such a device – while the electronics part is only about 16%. Within the LCD module, the main environmental impact is due to the assembly efforts (i.e. due to the production) as shown in Figure 27. This – compared to the two other devices before – much higher impact due to the production efforts can also be seen in Figure 26, as the “production” (i.e. the infrastructure, transport amounts to bring all pieces to the assembly site, the used energy as well as the infrastructure, e.g. the building) of the very final assembly makes still 20% of the impact of the complete LCD screen.
36
Figure 27
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a LCD module for a 17-inch LCD screen. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
Within the production efforts, the main environmental load is due to the energy consumption (heat and electricity) as well as the high infrastructure (the amount of buildings and chromium steel for the clean room technology is much higher than for “traditional” production sites) requirements for the LCD production. From Figure 28 it can be seen that also in the complete LCD the IC production arises to be one of the most relevant parts within the complete production. And hence, the subsequent PWBs (e.g. the electronics part) are shown as important parts of the overall device here (see also Figure 26).
37
Figure 28
3.3.4
Environmental loads of the different steps within the manufacturing of a 17-inch LCD screen. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
Environmental impacts of the end-of-life phase
As already shown in the figures about the complete life cycle (see chapter 3.3.1), the here used data for the final treatment of a desktop PC system leads to an environmental benefit instead of an impact, compared to the other life phases examined. This is due to the fact that recycling leads to the recovery of e.g. precious metals – and as they can be used again in products, a similar amount of primary production hasn’t to be done. In brief – in the data, the respective amount of primary production is deducted for this process step here, leading to an overall result < 0 – i.e. leading to an environmental benefit. However, if looking into details in the EoL phase, it can be seen that there are of course first environmental impacts due to the activities and only then environmental benefits due to the recycled amount of metals, glass and plastics resulting from the here assumed state-of-the art e-waste treatment system. In Figure 29 these various impacts are shown (summed up as “transports”: i.e. all transport steps between the various players within the overall EoL system / “auxillaries”: all chemical substances used within the various steps / “energy”: the energy consumption due to these process steps / “disposal”: all direct impacts – mainly due to emissions to air/water – from these activities in the various steps) as well as the resulting benefits (summed up as “energy benefits”: not used energy, especially for the primary metal production / “metal benefits”: amount of primary metals and/or metal resources that can be saved / “other benefits”: remaining parts, mainly auxiliaries not used during the extraction/treatment of the various primary metals).
38
other benefits
Environmental benefits
metal benefits
energy benefits
transports
auxillaries
Environmental impacts
energy
disposal -0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
Figure 29
Environmental impacts and benefits due to the EoL of a desktop PC system.
Figure 30
Environmental loads (red) and benefits (green arrows) respectively of the different steps within the End-of-Life treatment of a complete desktop PC system. Flow diagram out of the used LCA software system – showing all those flows that are contributing to more than 5% to the overall result.
39
From the flow system shown in Figure 30, it can be seen that the biggest benefits are due to the recovered copper, iron (steel), aluminium as well as the recovered precious metals – while the process steps leading to an environmental load are hardly visible. The most important ones in this sector are the incineration of the residues from the mechanical treatment of computer and screens as well as the assumed incineration of the LCD module itself.
3.3.5
Environmental impacts allocated to the Chinese and international industry
A split of the overall environmental impact of this study into the part that occurs in China and the remaining part, occurring abroad of China is not possible. The main reason is the fact that within the various chains, different parts of the production can be situated outside China. As in each step import / export of the raw materials, materials or components can occur – it is not possible to make a clear picture of this question here. Nevertheless, due to the fact that high-tech products like integrated circuits (ICs) or the LCD modules seem to have a major environmental impact, it can be concluded that there is a relevant amount of the impact associated to the here examined desktop PC system occurring abroad from China – and hence, Chinese companies as well as the authorities have only a limited influence concerning the regulation of these processes in order to reduce the respective environmental impact.
40
3.4
Interpretation of the LCA study
The here established LCA study shows that the actual desktop PC (desktop computer without visual display unit) contributes most to the environmental load of a desktop PC system, followed by the VDU (CRT and LCD respectively). The two requested accessories (i.e. keyboard and mouse) have an insignificant environmental load compared to the other units. Significant environmental impacts were identified during manufacturing and use phase, while the distribution phase shows up as insignificant even if international distribution is assumed. The impact of the EoL phase depends much on the assumed recycling and disposal technology. The latter one can even result in a benefit instead of a load in case of a state-ofthe art recycling system like e.g. in practice in Switzerland. As a key environmental impact in the manufacturing, the production of integrated circuits (ICs) has been clearly identified. There, the energy consumption of the production process itself, but also the wafer production and the consumption of precious metals (e.g. gold) are the most important contributors to this high environmental load of the IC production. Obviously, the high impact of ICs lead to an important impact of mounted PWB in all here examined devices. In case of the two screen technologies, the actual screen (e.g. the CRT and. the LCD module) shows also a high impact. While in case of CRT this is due to the amount of used glass – in the LCD case this is mainly due to high energy consumption, partly due to the clean room technology necessary, within the actual production step. Choi et al. (Choi, Shin et al. 2006), Hikwama (Hikwama 2005) and Seungdo (Seungdo K.. 2001) found rather similar results in LCA studies on personal computer, PC components and CRT displays respectively. The use phase is only due to electricity consumption – as no other aspects are taken into account during this life stage. Hence, the here shown impact is due to the way how the electricity is produced. The more renewable energy resources used here – the less high this impact would be. The final process steps – summed up as EoL phase – lead to a clear environmental benefit if a formal and modern, up-to-date technical system is assumed, like here in this study. Then the impacts due to the various treatment steps (shredder, incinerator, etc.) are more than compensated by the benefits due to the recycled amount of materials (mainly metals). Main benefit is due to the recycling of copper, iron and precious metals. All in all, it can clearly be concluded from this study, that the manufacturing and the use of such devices are of highest environmental importance. Within such devices, the integrated chips (ICs) and the LCD modules are those parts with the highest impact.
41
4
Key Environmental Impacts of Major Chinese E-Products
4.1
Key characteristics of the examined Chinese E-Products
A rough material composition of the examined electric and electronic devices (i.e. CRT TV, air conditioner, washing machine, refrigerator, and for comparison reason again the desktop PC system) is summarized in Table 7.
Table 7
Composition data of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and personal computers (GWMR 2005) Plastics
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
Glass
Other
E-product kg
Refrigerator 22.80
1.710
2.28
28.50
0.570
1.710
9.90
0.825
1.10
14.58
0.275
1.100
5.06
3.220
7.82
25.30
0.000
4.600
6.88
0.598
0.90
2.99
17.043
1.495
5.24
0.873
2.037
11.35
8.148
1.746
(57kg) Washing machine (27.5kg) Air conditioner (46kg) CRT TV (29.9kg) PC incl. CRT (29.1kg)
Based on this composition data, a simplified LCA of the manufacturing of these devices can be calculated by taking the following data for the various here listed material amounts: •
Plastics: 50% ABS, 50% polyethylene (high density);
•
Aluminium: 100% aluminium production (mix – i.e. primary and secondary production in a relation according to European production);
•
Copper: 100% copper production (mix);
•
Steel: 75% low-alloyed steel and 25% chromium steel (i.e. high alloyed steel);
•
Glass: 100% flat glass
•
Others: 5 to 70% PWB (i.e. electronics) and the remaining part as average of all above shown other materials (plastics, metals and glass).
42
The electricity consumption data for the use phase of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and desktop PC are shown in Table 8. On the basis of the production data 2005 (see Table 14 - Table 24 in the annex) and the specific electricity consumption, their total annual electricity consumption was calculated.
Table 8
4.2
Lifespan, specific electricity consumption and total, annual electricity consumption (of all in 2005 in China produced such devices) of personal computer, CRT TV, air conditioner, washing machine and refrigerator (http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/appliances)
Average
electricity
Total electricity
lifespan
consumption
consumption
[years]
[kWh/per year]
[GWh/per year]
Desktop PC
6
204
8’911
CRT TV
10
240
18’941
Air conditioner
11
1’440
81’893
Washing machine
12
114
2’790
Refrigerator
13
876
22’881
Global environmental impact of the various devices
In a first step, a simplified LCA, based on the information given in Table 7 has been calculated, using standard LCA data from the database ecoinvent data v1.3. As in the preceding chapter, the results are expressed with the LCIA method “Eco-Indicator 99”, but here not on an absolute scale. Instead, a relative scale is used, with 100% representing the Eco-Indicator 99 points for the production of a desktop PC system (i.e. the result of the manufacturing phase reported in more details in chapter 3.3.1). The so calculated results are shown in Figure 31 on the next page. Similar to the desktop PC, all other examined devices have two clearly dominating life stages – i.e. the manufacturing or production and the use of the respective device. Again, the distribution (not only in China, but on a global level) has such a small impact that its result is hardly visible in the various graphs. Nevertheless, the distribution phase has been adjusted using the respective average weights of the examined devices. Last but not least, a state-ofthe-art End-of-Life treatment leads in all cases to a clear environmental benefit of this life stage. When comparing the various devices to each other, it can be seen that the manufacturing of a refrigerator and an air conditioner has a higher environmental load than a desktop PC, while the production of a washing machine or of a CRT TV lead to less impact than the PC. More details concerning the manufacturing phase can be found in the next chapter.
43
In the use phase (calculated like for the desktop PC system in chapter 3.3 – i.e. taking into account that one part of the devices is sold in China, while the remaining devices are exported on a global level), especially the air conditioner and the refrigerator have much higher results than the other three devices – mainly due to the fact that they have a much higher amount of working hours per year, compared to the three other devices. From the other devices, the CRT TV is the one that is used most – resulting in a higher load of the use phase than the two remaining devices. CRT TV 250%
200%
200% in % of PC production
in % of PC production
Desktop PC System 250%
150% 100% 50% 0% Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
330%
150% 100% 50% 0%
End of Life
Manufacturing
-50%
-50%
-100%
-100%
Distribution
Use
End of Life
Air Conditioner 250%
in % of PC production
200%
2100%
150% 100% 50% 0% Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
-50%
End of Life
-200 %
-100% Refrigerator 250%
200%
200% in % of PC production
in % of PC production
Washing Machine 250%
150% 100% 50% 0% Manufacturing
Distribution
Use
100% 50% 0%
End of Life
Manufacturing
-50%
-50%
-100%
-100%
Figure 31
1500%
150%
Distribution
Use
End of Life
Global average environmental impact (Eco-Indicator 99 points – in % of production of one desktop PC) of the complete life cycle of one desktop PC (see also chapter 3.3.1), one CRT TV, one air conditioner, one washing machine and one refrigerator produced in China (simplified calculation, based simplified LCA data from ecoinvent).
In the End-of-Life, the air conditioner reports a clearly higher environmental benefit compared to all other devices. This is mainly due to the high amount of copper used in such devices – a material that can easily be recycled, but has a high environmental load when produced from primary resources (i.e. resulting thus in a high environmental benefit in case of recycling).
44
4.3
Detailed environmental impact of the manufacturing phase
The simplified LCA, based on the information given in Table 7 and expressed with the LCIA method “Eco-Indicator 99”, results for the various devices in the load shown in Figure 32 (on a per unit base – and relative to the result of the desktop PC, set as 100%). 160%
Eco-Indicator'99 (in % of Desktop PC)
140% 120%
Plastics
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
Glass
Other
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% PC
Figure 32
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
Environmental loads of the manufacturing phase per unit of a desktop PC, a CRT TV, an air conditioner, a washing machine and a refrigerator (simplified calculation, based standard LCA data from ecoinvent).
PC
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
0
500
1'000
1'500
Plastics
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
Glass
Other
2'000
2'500
3'000
tousand tons
Figure 33
Annual material consumption for the production of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and personal computers (based on data 2005)
On the basis of the production data 2005 (see Table 14 - Table 24 in the annex) and the material composition, the annual consumption of plastics, aluminium, copper, steel and glass was estimated. The results are given in Figure 33. Due to their high production volumes, the
45
air conditioners are of highest importance of the here distinguished types of devices. Based on this overall material consumption data, the impact due to this annual production can be calculated. Its result is shown in Figure 34.
Eco-Indicator'99 points per Year
2.10E+09
Plastics
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
Glass
Other
1.40E+09
7.00E+08
0.00E+00 PC
Figure 34
4.4
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
Environmental loads of the annual Chinese production of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and personal computers (simplified calculation, based standard LCA data from ecoinvent).
Detailed environmental impact of the use phase
The environmental impacts due to the annual electricity consumption are estimated using the annual energy consumption reported in Table 8. Two different views are possible – one in relation to the annual consumption per device – here shown in Figure 35 - and the other one in relation to the total annual consumption, based on the total production of such type of devices – here shown in Figure 36. As can be seen there, again the air conditioner is the clearly dominating device. On a “per device” basis, the refrigerator due to the fact that this device consumes during 24h electricity is also clearly more important than the other three here examined devices. Over the complete 2005, the difference between refrigerator and computer / TV is smaller due to the fact that less fridges are produced in China than television devices.
46
50
Eco-Indicator'99 points/unit
40
30
20
10
0 PC
Figure 35
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
Annual environmental impacts of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and desktop personal computers due to electricity consumption in use phase – results per unit of these devices (produced in China – used globally).
2.8E+09
Eco-Indicator'99 points
2.1E+09
1.4E+09
7.0E+08
0.0E+00 PC
Figure 36
4.5
CRT TV
Air conditioner
Washing machine
Refrigerator
Annual environmental impacts of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and desktop personal computers produced in China due to electricity consumption in use phase (on a global level) – results for the total amount of devices produced in China in 2005.
Release of hazardous substances in the end-of-life phase
Some electronic and electric equipment or its components contain substances that are considered hazardous to the environment and human health. Although these substances are usually only contained in small amounts, they have great potential for causing serious environmental damage. Hence special attention in recycling, recovery and disposal
47
processes is essential in order to prevent from emissions of hazardous substances to the environment. Environmental impacts of emissions of hazardous substances in informal end-of-life processes are not assessed using Eco-Indicator 99 impact assessment method due to lack of data. The impacts are qualitatively discussed and references are given. Depending on the component to be recycled and the technology applied, significant differences in emissions of hazardous substances to the environment and working place exist. Few data exist on emissions of recycling processes and concentration levels of heavy metals and persistent organic compounds in different environmental media, workers and local population. Below some examples of components / fractions from e-products containing hazardous substances are listed:
Batteries and accumulators, notably: Nickel-Cadmium accumulators, batteries and accumulators containing Mercury, Lithium accumulators
Condensers and ballasts (pre-switches), partly containing Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Mercury switches / mercury relays / mercury vapour lamps
Parts containing Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) (refrigeration cycle in refrigerators / insulation materials)
Selenium drums in photocopying machines
Components that release asbestos fibres
Shredder fraction containing PCB, Cd, others
The European RoHS Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and the Chinese Measures for the Administration of Prevention and Treatment of Pollution by Electronic Information Products prohibit the use of Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in new e-products. Nevertheless, within the forthcoming decade these hazardous substances will be present in e-waste and a complete phasing out of these substances will last even longer. Serious adverse impacts on the environment in China due to inappropriate e-waste recycling and recovery processes are reported 2002 by the NGO Basel Action Network (BAN) (Puckett, Byster et al. 2002). The main industrial clusters or rather the collection of a large number of small informal workshops related to the recycling of e-waste are located in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Increased concentration levels of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in soil, river and groundwater samples due to e-waste recycling activities were detected by various scientists in the area of Guiyu in Guangdong province (Wang, Cai et al. 2005), (Leung, Wei Cai et al. 2006), (Yu, Gao et al. 2006), (Deng, Louie et al. 2006), (Leung, Luksemburg et al. 2007), (Wong, Duzgoren-Aydin et al. 2007), (Wong, Wu et al. 2007a), (Luo, Wong et al. 2007),(Luo, Cai et al. 2007), (Qu, Bi et al. 2007).
48
According Xia et al. (Xia, Lin et al. 2007) there is evidence that the low skilled e-waste recycling activities may contribute to the identified elevated blood lead levels of children living in Guiyu. Two studies were carried out in Luqiao and Pingqiao in Zhejiang province and increased concentrations were determined in human milk, cord blood, rice, eggs and fish samples (Zhao, Xu et al. 2007), (Zhao, Xu et al. 2007). In order to avoid uncontrolled release of hazardous substances immediate minimal treatment standards have to be accomplished and depending on the dynamics of the e-waste composition continuously adapted. In the end-of-life phase improper recycling and disposal processes can cause significant negative environmental impacts and special management and attention to critical treatment steps is essential. Due to the occurrence of hazardous substances there is a potential danger to workers in the manufacturing, recycling and disposal of e-products (Steiner 2004), (Leung, Wei Cai et al. 2006), (Scharnhorst, Hilty et al. 2006). Special attention to occupational health and safety is required in all phases of the product’s life cycle.
4.6 4.6.1
Domestic e-waste generation Methodology
In this study eleven different of e-products were selected, including information and communication technology equipments (ICT), large household appliances (LHAs) and consumer electronics (CE) in order to estimate the e-waste generation. Domestic e-waste generation is estimated and forecasted by annual consumption data (see trade data Table 14 - Table 24 in the annex), combined with lifespan whereas annually consumption includes the storage.
Voln = Coni = Geni - Expi + Impi; - Voln: Waste volume of e-product in the “n” year; - Coni: Consumption of e-product in the “i” year; - Geni: Generation of e-product in the “i” year; - Expi: Export of e-product in the “i” year; - Impi: Import of e-product in the “i” year. - Llife = n-i;
4.6.2
Lifespan of selected e-products
The average effective lifespan of e-products is estimated on the basis of relevant literature sources and investigation on the current status of e-product use and obsolescence rates,
49
which is listed in Table 9. In this study, only the lifespan of the first use stage is considered. Reuse and refurnishing is not included in the calculations, e.g. reuse of entire products and components directly or refurnished after recycling.
Table 9
Estimated effective lifespan for selected e-products in China
4.6.3
e-product
Average Lifespan(year)
Desktop PC
6
Notebook PC
5
Mobile phone
3
CRT Monitor
6
LCD Monitor
6
CRT TV
10
LCD TV
5
PDP TV
5
Washing machine
12
Refrigerator
13
Air conditioner
11
E-waste estimation and forecast
According to the methodology mentioned in chapter 4.6.1, combined with the lifespan, the waste volume for selected e-products was calculated, and listed in the following tables.
Table 10
Estimated e-waste generation in China in million units (*interpolation using an exponential or linear regression functions) for 2000 - 2015 ICT Mobile phone
TV
Year
Desktop PC
Notebook PC
CRT Monitor
LCD Monitor
2000
0.3
0.1
3.7
0.0
0.0
2001
0.9
0.1
8.8
0.0
2002
1.3
0.2
22.4
2003
1.9
0.2
2004
2.7
0.4
2005
3.8
2006
LHA Refrigerator
Air conditioner
LCD TV
PDP TV
Washing machine
6.7
0.0
0.0
5*
5*
0.4
0.0
8.7
0.0
0.0
8.0
6*
0.2
0.0
0.0
10.2
0.0
0.0
6.3
6.8
0.6
29.7
1.7
0.0
11.3
0.0
0.0
6.5
4.3
1.6
46.0
2.7
0.0
14.9
0.0
0.0
6.7
4.5
3.4
0.7
62.5
5.4
0.0
15.7
0.0
0.0
8.7
4.4
3.9
5.1
0.7
73.8
6.8
0.0
20.4
0.0
0.2
10.5
5.8
6.8
2007
7.5
1.0
78.7
7.0
2.5
23.2
0.0
0.2
9.0
7.3
7.7
2008
14.5
1.5
88.1
8.0
4.1
30.9
0.1
0.3
10.2
8.7
9.2
CRT TV Million units
50
2009
30.8
2.0
119.3
9.0
5.1
37.2
0.2
0.5
11.9
9.2
10.9
2010
33.7
2.8
140*
10.0
7.0
29.1
1.3
0.8
11.6
9.7
12.4
2011
37.5
4.2
160*
12.0
9.3
30.4
3.8
1.0
12.8
9.7
16.5
2012
39.3
6*
180*
10.1
17.0
34.1
5*
2*
13.5
10.9
9.8
2013
41*
9*
200*
10*
20*
40.1
6*
3*
12.4
10.6
14.1
2014
43*
13*
220*
9*
30*
51.7
8*
4*
12.5
8.3
21.4
2015
45*
19*
240*
8*
40*
53.5
9*
6*
13.0
10.7
29.9
Table 11
Estimated e-waste generation in China in thousand tons for 2000 - 2015 ICT
Year
Desktop PC
Notebook PC
Mobile phone
TV CRT Monitor
LCD Monitor
CRT TV
LHA
LCD TV
PDP TV
Washing machine
Refrigerator
Air conditioner
10^3 tons 2000
4.1
0.2
0.6
0.0
0.0
201.7
0.0
0.0
137.5
285.0
17.1
2001
11.6
0.4
1.3
0.0
0.0
260.1
0.0
0.0
220.6
342.0
11.0
2002
17.6
0.7
3.4
0.0
0.0
305.8
0.0
0.0
174.3
386.7
28.7
2003
25.6
0.7
4.5
26.4
0.0
338.6
0.0
0.0
178.4
245.8
72.0
2004
36.4
1.4
6.9
43.1
0.0
444.1
0.0
0.0
183.4
254.7
157.8
2005
50.4
2.5
9.4
85.7
0.0
470.4
0.0
0.0
240.0
253.4
179.2
2006
68.6
2.6
11.1
108.1
0.0
610.3
0.2
4.9
288.2
329.5
311.2
2007
100.6
3.6
11.8
111.3
14.3
695.1
0.3
6.5
248.5
414.6
354.7
2008
193.9
5.1
13.2
127.2
23.3
923.4
1.8
9.8
281.3
495.6
424.9
2009
413.1
7.1
17.9
143.1
29.2
1'111.7
6.5
16.3
326.5
526.8
501.0
2010
451.8
9.8
21.0
159.0
39.9
871.0
37.8
26.0
318.7
551.1
568.1
2011
502.1
14.7
24.0
190.8
53.0
908.1
114.0
34.0
352.1
554.9
760.0
2012
527.0
21.0
27.0
160.4
96.9
1'019.9
150.0
65.0
370.1
619.6
452.0
2013
549.4
31.5
30.0
159.0
114.0
1'199.9
180.0
97.5
341.0
605.1
647.7
2014
576.2
45.5
33.0
143.1
171.0
1'545.8
240.0
130.0
343.8
472.3
985.8
2015
603.0
66.5
36.0
127.2
228.0
1'598.5
270.0
195.0
357.5
609.9
1'374.5
The following figure shows the total waste volumes of the selected e-products in thousand tons.
51
6'000
Air conditioner Refrigerator Washing machine
5'000
PDP TV LCD TV CRT TV
4'000
LCD Monitor 10^3 tons
CRT Monitor Mobile phone
3'000
Notebook PC Desktop PC 2'000
1'000
0 2000
Figure 37
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Estimated e-waste generation in China in thousand tons (2000 – 2015)
In 2006, it was estimated that the total waste volume of the selected e-products, including desktop PC, notebook PC, mobile phone, washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner, TV (CRT, LCD and PDP), visual display units (CRT and LCD) reached 130 million units or about 1.7 million tons. This amounts to approximately 1.3 kg e-waste generated per capita in China (population estimate 2006: 1’307’000’000). According data from the EU WEEE Forum the system operators in different European countries collected 2005 on average 3.4 kg e-waste per capita (Forum 2007). In Switzerland 13.3 kg e-waste per capita was collected in 2006 (SENS 2007). The penetration rate for personal computers in Switzerland is 480.7 PCs per 1’000 inhabitants and in China 15.8 respectively (Nationmaster 2007). The low penetration rate of personal computers in China and consequently the low level ewaste generation per capita indicates that in China the market for e-products is far away from saturation and still growing. Hence it is expected that the waste volumes will in the near future dramatically further increase. According to the estimates the total domestic e-waste generation will double from 2006 to 2009 and will exceed clearly 3 million tons. This trend will continue beyond 2015. Table 12 shows the e-waste volumes of selected countries. The volume of domestically generated e-waste in China accounts for a high proportion of the overall amount.
52
Table 12
E-waste generation in selected countries (Empa 2007) and (Terazono, Murakami et al. 2006)
Country
Total e-waste
Categories of Appliances counted in e -waste
tons/y Office
Switzerland
98,700
&
Telecommunications
Entertainment
Electronics,
Large
Equipment, and
Small
Year
Consumer Domestic
2006
Appliances, Refrigerators, Fractions Office Germany
1,100,00
&
Telecommunications
Entertainment
Electronics,
Large
Equipment, and
Small
Consumer Domestic
2005
Appliances, Refrigerators, Fractions Office UK
915,000
&
Telecommunications
Entertainment
Electronics,
Large
Equipment, and
Small
Consumer Domestic
1998
Appliances, Refrigerators, Fractions 2,158,490 USA 1,824,800 (annual)
Video
Products,
Audio
Products,
Computers
and
Telecommunications Equipment
2000
Desktop Computers, Laptop Computers, CRT Monitors, LCD
2003
Monitors, Televisions, CRT Televisions, Projection TVs, Cell
to
Phones, Printers, Keyboards, Computer Mice
2005
Computers, Home electrical appliances (TVs, Washing
Taiwan CN
14,036
Thailand
60,000
Denmark
118,000
Electronic and Electrical Appliances including Refrigerators
1997
74,800
Large white goods (excl. fridges and freezers); other
2002
Machines, Air conditioners, Refrigerators) Refrigerator,
Air
Conditioners,
Televisions,
Washing
Machines, Computers
2003
2003
household appliances; Hand tools, gardening equipment IT, Sweden
office equipment, telecom; TV, video, audio; Cameras, clocks, 78,600
toys; Light
sources, fittings; Medical and laboratory
2003
equipment. Canada
China mainland* Korea
67,000 1,350,000
Computer Equipment (computers, printers etc) & Consumer Electronics (TVs) Large home appliances (Refrigerator, Air Conditioners,
2005 2005
Washing Machines); Consumer electrics (TV, PDP TV); ICT 1,790,000 6,800
(computers, display, mobile phone etc) TV, Refrigerator, Washing Machine, Air Conditioner
2006 2005
53
4.7 4.7.1
E-waste imports Relevant regulation on e-waste import in China
China issued in 2001 a ban for importing e-waste and promulgated additional policies and regulations, such as the “Supplementary Regulations of Interim Provisions on the Management of Environmental Protection in the Waste Import”. The policy states that the wastes controlled by the Basel Convention include e-waste and special measures on the control of transboundary movements and disposal are required. On July 3rd, 2002, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the Administration of Customs and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) jointly issued the Notice No. 25/2002 on Waste Lists. The list covers 21 types of wastes including e-waste like LHAs, ICTs and CE which are banned to import and to be used as secondary raw materials. In order to control e-waste imports SEPA selected in 2002 more than 500 companies and certified them as importers and processors of the 7th waste category. This category was categorized comprises e-waste and other metal waste. Companies without a certification are not qualified to recycle the 7th waste category.
4.7.2
Current situation of e-waste import in China
Actually, relevant activities to ban the import are largely ineffective because local government agencies lack adequate resources to enforce the regulations. Furthermore, the command and control approach is not likely to fundamentally alter the basic forces that generate illegal imports. The number of small enterprises engaged in the recycling of imported e-waste is actually considerably larger than the number approved by the government. And it is difficult to obtain reliable data on the quantity of imports of e-waste, largely because such imports are frequently disguised as shipments of metal scrap or electronic products (Liu, Tanaka et al. 2006). The brand names on the casings indicate that China import e-waste mainly from the North Americas, to a lesser degree from Japan, South Korea and Europe (Puckett, Byster et al. 2002). E-waste is often imported via Hong Kong and Taiwan, using Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Nanhai as transit points, and then distributed to Guangdong and Zhejiang province where informal e-waste recycling clusters are located.
4.7.3
Estimation on the volume of illegally imported e-waste
The Beijing Zhongse Institute of Secondary Metals (Zhongse 2002) estimated that the amount of e-waste imported in the Yangtze River delta accounts for over 700’000 tons in 2001. Pearl River Delta was another destination for e-waste import. Applying the estimation methods of e-waste import by Yangtze River delta to the Pearl River Delta, it was estimated that another 700’000 tons was imported illegally from Pearl River delta. In addition, it was
54
reported that some other harbor regions (Bohai Sea Bay area, including Tianjin harbors and Shandong) also illegally imported e-waste, accounting for roughly 10% of the total e-waste imports (BCRC 2005). To sum up the imported e-waste volume in this area was about 150’000 tons. Consequently, one can assume that the amount of imported e-waste in 2001 was about 1.5 million tons.
55
5
Conclusions and Policy Implications
5.1
Conclusions
From the analysis of the supply chain structure of the EEE industry in China and the assessment of environmental impacts along the products entire life cycle, the following conclusions can be derived.
5.1.1
General conclusions
China plays a key role in the EEE industry and produces a significant share of the worldwide output. In 2006, 72 million notebook PCs and 229 million desktop PCs were sold worldwide (IDC 2007). China produces 77% of the global output of notebook PCs and 21% of desktop PCs respectively (NBSC 2006). In 2005, global shipments of CRT televisions were 158 million (Display 2007) whereas China has produced 79 million units or 50% (NBSC 2005). Additionally, a large amount of Chinas exports from the EEE industry are components and semi-finished products for final assembling in regional markets, in particular for desktop PCs. Around 17% of the desktop PCs, 94% of the notebook PCs, 73% of the mobile phones, 36% of the CRT TVs, 80% of the LCD TV and 38% of the PDP TV produced in China are exported. The export volume of washing machines accounts for 41%, of refrigerators for 54% and of air-conditioners for 58% of total production in China. China imports very small volumes of final assembled EEE.
Concerning the production place it can be concluded that the higher the technology level of a component, the less it is produced in general in China. Integrated (logic) circuits (ICs) or LCD modules, two components with a very high technology level for the production (clean room, etc.) are hardly produced currently in China, while simpler materials or assemblies like soldering, fasteners, connectors, cables, fan, resistors, semiconductor devices, CD- or DVD-ROM, floppy drives, as well as printed wiring boards are produced mainly in China. Thus, for key components like logic ICs, the Chinese electronic industry depends much on imports.
The LCA study of the desktop PC system shows that the phases manufacturing and use generate very high environmental impacts, while the End-of-Life phase can result in a significant environmental benefit. Other LCA studies in the electronics sector – like e.g. Tekawa et al. (Tekawa, Miyamoto et al. 1997), Segundo et al. (Seungdo, Taeyeon et al. 2001), Hikwama (Hikwama 2005) or Choi et al. (Choi, Shin et al. 2006) – ended up with rather similar results.
56
5.1.2
Manufacturing Phase
In the manufacturing of a desktop PC system the impact is clearly due to the production of the desktop PC itself as well as either type of screen used – while keyboard and mouse have very small impacts.
Within the desktop PC the most significant environmental impacts are generated in the production of integrated circuits (IC). Three aspects are responsible for this impact – the energy consumption of the process itself, the wafer production and the energy intensive refining of precious metals (here especially Gold). Apart ICs, all further components containing precious metals contribute also in a rather important way to the total impact due to the PC production. Only minor impacts result from the (final) assembling of all components, semi-finished and final products to the actual desktop PC.
Concerning the production of the two here examined types of screen (CRT and LCD), it can be seen that in the CRT case, the materials (glass, but also the electronics part) are rather dominant – while for the LCD screen the production process itself (especially in case of the LCD module) is of much higher importance; mainly due to the clean room technology requested in order to produce an LCD module.
On a broader view – not only focussing on the desktop PC system – it is estimated that in China in 2005 for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, CRT TVs and PCs produced in China more than 3.3 millions tons of steel, 1.9 millions tons of plastics, 1.7 millions tons of glass, 0.7 million tons of copper and 0.3 million tons of aluminium was used. Hence, more than 12% of the total Chinese copper consumption of 5.6 million tons (Nationmaster 2007) comes from the production of e-products.
The related environmental load shows a clear dominance of the air conditioners, followed by the desktop PC systems, CRT TVs and refrigerators – while washing machines have a comparably low impact.
5.1.3
Distribution & Use Phases
The environmental impacts in the global distribution are compared to the other phases along the PCs life cycle very small, almost negligible. Due to long transport distances highest impacts result from distribution to Europe and America.
Due to the electricity consumption in the use phase, significant environmental impacts are generated during the effective lifespan of each of the here examined devices. Highest impacts in the use phase result from using air conditioners and refrigerators.
The annual electricity consumption in the use phase of all air-conditioners produced in 2005 is 81’893 GWh. Refrigerators consume 22’881, CRT TV 18’941, PC 8’911 and washing machines 2’790 GWh annually. Thus again, the air-conditioners contribute substantially to the overall environmental impacts in the use phase of e-products.
57
5.1.4
End-of-Life Phase
In the end-of-life phase the production of secondary raw materials and thereby the avoidance of mineral extraction through substitution (circular flow economy) can compensate negative environmental impacts from recycling and recovery activities or even result in environmental benefits. According Hischier et al. (Hischier, Wäger et al. 2005) e-waste recycling proves to be clearly advantageous from an environmental perspective compared to primary production of the raw materials. A fact that is also confirmed here in this study.
A major part of the environmental benefit due to the EoL phase is caused by the recovery of metals – copper and precious metals especially. In a state-of-the-art gold recovery process from printed wiring boards (PWBs), more than 90% of the potential quantity can be recovered. Rochat et al. (Rochat, Hagelüken et al. 2007) investigated gold recovery processes of PWBs in informal workshops in India and estimated a recovery rate of only about 40%. Hence, informal workshops tend to have inefficient recovery processes for precious metals and can potentially contribute less to the reduction of the overall environmental burden of the EEE chain.
In the EoL phase severe adverse impacts to the environment can occur due to inappropriate recycling, recovery and/or disposal processes. Scientists investigated informal ewaste recycling sites in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces and concluded that the recycling activities result in increased concentration levels of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in environmental media, agricultural food products, human milk and cord blood.
The low penetration rate of PCs in China and consequently the low level e-waste generation per capita indicates that in China the market for e-products is far away from saturation and still growing. Hence it is expected that the waste volumes will in the near future dramatically further increase. According to the estimates the total domestic ewaste generation will double from 2006 to 2009 and will exceed clearly 3 million tons.
Obviously there are no statistical data available for illegal imports of e-waste, but it can be assumed that today illegal e-waste imports still occur in China. In this study it is estimated that about 1.5 million tons of e-waste has been imported illegally in 2001.
5.2
Policy Implications
The implications from the above mentioned conclusions on policies for sustainable development are multiple. The recovery of material resources in a circular flow economy and an effective and efficient management of hazardous substances are essential. Sustainable processes in terms of economic and ecological performance and social implications are the cornerstone for a continuous sustainability improvement. Finally, the optimal framework for a well functioning system is fundamental and is given by the legal framework and a secure financing system for the external cost.
58
Below a set of possible measures are listed and grouped according these main fields of interventions, namely to establish a circular flow economy, to control hazardous substances, to implement sustainable processes and to ensure an optimal legal framework and secure financing.
5.2.1
Circular flow economy
The efficiency of the circular flow economy should be continuously improved and material recycling and re-application of secondary raw materials in industrial processes should be supported. Precondition for a circular flow economy are well-functioning collection systems.
Establish an efficient collection system (collective take-back system) and maintain employment of low skilled and low income worker. The informal collection has proved to be very efficient. The risk of exposition to hazardous substance during the collection activity is very low and options to integrate informal collection structures into a formal system should be proved.
Recycle and recover materials but ensure that hazardous substances are not being dispersed into other new products2.
Identify and remove barriers in the re-application of secondary raw materials in industrial processes.
5.2.2
Control of hazardous substances
Hazardous substances should be avoided in e-products where technically possible. For most of the substances substitutes are available. A monitoring system for hazardous substances in e-waste intended to establish an optimal occupational health and safety and environmental pollution control is highly important.
2
Ban the use of hazardous substances in the production of EEE as far as possible. The Chinese Administration of Prevention and Treatment of Pollution by Electronic Information Products prohibit the use of Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in new e-products. This measure should be consequently put into practice.
Weidenhamer and Clement (Weidenhamer, J. D. and M. L. Clement (2007a). "Widespread lead contamination of imported low-cost jewelry in the US." Chemosphere 67(5): 961-965.) reported about leadcontaminated low-cost jewelry on US market imported from China and advance the hypothesis that leaded ewaste is a possible source material for the contamination (see also Weidenhamer, J. D. and M. L. Clement (2007b). "Leaded electronic waste is a possible source material for lead-contaminated jewelry." Chemosphere Article in Press.).
59
Identify and separate components and fractions of e-waste containing hazardous substances (de-toxify e-waste). The transports, separation and disposal of hazardous substances should be monitored and controlled carefully. A safe disposal of hazardous substances requires adequate disposal facilities like high temperature incineration plants.
Initiate technical control bodies in order to monitor and control quantities and flows of hazardous components / fractions and the disposal processes applied. The technical control bodies consist of technical experts in the field of recycling, recovery and disposal of hazardous substances from e-waste. Further, monitor and control the illegal e-waste imports.
5.2.3
Sustainable processes
The processes along the life cycle of EEE should be from a sustainability perspective efficient and effective.
3
Improve the eco-efficiency of the production of silicon wafers, ICs and LCD modules by supporting the development of environmentally sound production technologies.
Reduce the electricity consumption of EEE in the use phase by measures like implementing standards for the electricity consumption of new products, establishing a labelling system3, consumer awareness raising campaigns or mandatory stand-by switches in government offices, universities, schools, etc. for e-products.
Support research and implementation of adequate recycling technologies and techniques. Recovery of precious metals in informal recycling processes is proved to be inefficient and technology and skills need to be improved substantially.
Support initiatives / activities for reuse of devices or recovery of functions (secondhand markets, re-integration of components in manufacturing, refurbishing, etc.). Thereby it should be considered that prolonging products lifetime reduces e-waste quantities but can be contrary the efforts of for energy efficiency of products.
A survey carried out by Huang et al. (Huang, P., X. Zhang, et al. (2006). "Survey and analysis of public environmental awareness and performance in Ningbo, China: a case study on household electrical and electronic equipment." Journal of Cleaner Production Article in Press.) in Ningbo showed that the residents are not satisfied with the local environment quality and they would like very much to share environmental responsibility. About 64% of the respondents are aware of Chinese environmental labelling. Nearly 70% and 80% of the respondents are willing to pay for environmental improvement and to purchase environmentally friendly products, respectively.
60
5.2.4
Legal framework and secure financing
The optimal framework for a well functioning system is given by the legal framework and a secure financing system for external cost.
Facilitate and support the set-up of a legal framework and define the role of all stakeholders in particular the role of the manufacturers and importers. There is lack of an integrated regulatory regime to govern the collection, treatment, and recycling and re-use of e-waste.
Moderate and facilitate the establishment of a secure financing scheme for managing and maintain a sound and safe end-of-life system. Several authors state that the formal e-waste recycling industry in China cannot compete against the informal recycling sector (Hicks, Dietmar et al. 2005), (He, Li et al. 2006), (Terazono, Murakami et al. 2006). Financing mechanisms for the creation of incentives for diverting e-waste into formal recycling process and for setting up and maintain a technical controlling system should be worked out.
61
6
Annex
6.1 6.1.1
Annex 1 – Trade Data Trading partners of Hi-Tech products
The following table shows the most important trading partners of China for Hi-tech. products in 2005. The top five countries / regions from which China is importing Hi-tech. products are ASEAN of 23.93%, Japan of 18.12%, Taiwan CN4 of 17.45%, South Korean of 15.43%, and EU of 11.58% respectively. And the top five countries which import Hi-tech. products from China were U.S.A of 24.43%, Hong Kong CN of 18.12%, EU of 23.79%, Japan of 8.47%, and ASEAN of 7.61% respectively.
Table 13 Trade of High-technology products of export to and import from abroad (Custom 2005) (Note: ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Countries/Region
Import
Export USD
U.S.A
16.11
9.61%
52.04
24.80%
Hong Kong CN
4.09
2.44%
51.26
24.42%
EU
19.41
11.58%
49.94
23.79%
Japan
30.38
18.12%
17.77
8.47%
ASEAN
40.13
23.93%
15.97
7.61%
25.87
15.43%
7.06
3.36%
Taiwan CN
29.25
17.45%
5.18
2.47%
Others
2.43
1.44%
10.66
5.08%
National
167.67
100%
209.88
100%
South Korean
4
From the official statistic definition, data of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are classified as import and export regions.
62
Import from abroad Taiwan CN 17%
Others 1%
U.S.A 10%
Hong Kong CN 2% EU 12%
South Korean 15%
Japan 18%
ASEAN 25%
Export to abroad Taiwan CN 2%
South Korean 3%
Others 5%
U.S.A 26%
Japan 8% ASEAN 8% EU 24%
Hong Kong CN 24%
Figure 38 Trade of Hi-tech. products of export to and import from abroad (Custom 2005)
63
6.1.2
Production, import, export and domestic sales data
Import, export and domestic sales data has been gathered from national statistics, the production output was calculated (production output = domestic sales + exports – imports). Data for the most important e-products (desktop PC, notebook PC, mobile phone, CRT monitor, LCD monitor, CRT TV, LCD TV, PDP TV, washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner) is shown in the following Table 14 - Table 24. Graphs are given in Figure 39 Figure 41. The data 2001 – 2006 has been gathered by the China Electronics Engineering and Design Institute (CEEDI) using data from China Customs (Custom 2006), Computer Business World, Analysis International, SINO Market Research Co. Ltd., China Electronics and Information Industry Annual Bulletin. The data older than 2001 has been compiled by Tsinghua University using data from the China Statistical Yearbook (NBSC 2006).
Table 14
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for desktop PCs produced in China (1989 – 2006)
year
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
million set 1989
0.08
0.01
0.04
0.11
1990
0.08
0.01
0.05
0.12
1991
0.16
0.01
0.09
0.25
1992
0.13
0.01
0.07
0.19
1993
0.15
0.01
0.11
0.25
1994
0.25
0.02
0.08
0.30
1995
0.84
0.06
0.09
0.87
1996
1.39
0.09
0.02
1.32
1997
2.07
0.18
0.02
1.91
1998
2.91
0.25
0.05
2.72
1999
4.05
0.35
0.05
3.76
2000
6.72
1.65
0.05
5.12
2001
8.04
0.56
0.03
7.51
2002
16.45
2.01
0.03
14.47
2003
33.93
3.78
0.68
30.83
2004
37.77
4.92
0.88
33.72
2005
43.68
6.23
0.02
37.47
2006
47.46
8.15
0.02
39.33
64
Table 15
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for notebook PCs produced in China (1995 – 2006)
year
Output
export
import
consumption
million set
Table 16
1995
-
-
0.07
0.07
1996
-
-
0.10
0.10
1997
-
-
0.21
0.21
1998
-
-
0.21
0.21
1999
0.00
0.00
0.41
0.41
2000
0.08
0.00
0.64
0.72
2001
0.09
0.05
0.70
0.74
2002
0.49
0.13
0.67
1.03
2003
14.09
13.30
0.66
1.45
2004
26.50
25.32
0.86
2.03
2005
43.43
41.35
0.73
2.81
2006
55.48
51.99
0.72
4.21
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for mobile phones produced in China (1995 – 2006)
year
Output
export
import
consumption
million set 1995
1.31
0.04
-
1.27
1996
3.63
0.08
-
3.55
1997
3.78
0.10
-
3.68
1998
8.53
0.35
-
8.82
1999
22.68
0.25
-
22.43
2000
52.48
22.75
-
29.73
2001
75.93
45.20
15.29
46.02
2002
108.57
63.29
17.20
62.47
2003
147.06
95.34
22.07
73.79
2004
212.02
146.05
12.72
78.70
2005
303.61
228.30
12.75
88.06
2006
340.41
250.00
28.92
119.33
65
Table 17
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for CRT monitor produced in China (1997 – 2006)
year
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
million set
Table 18
1997 1998
5.98
5.20
0.88
1.66
8.55
7.38
1.55
2.71
1999
15.31
10.39
0.47
5.39
2000
39.20
33.06
0.66
6.80
2001
41.78
37.58
2.80
7.00
2002
40.83
35.48
2.65
8.00
2003
39.80
33.46
2.66
9.00
2004
40.14
34.29
4.15
10.00
2005
27.18
21.02
5.84
12.00
2006
18.05
12.65
4.70
10.09
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for LCD monitor produced in China (2001 – 2006)
year
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
million set
Table 19
2001
18.58
18.90
2.82
2.50
2002
28.84
27.86
3.10
4.08
2003
31.58
29.85
3.39
5.12
2004
50.39
46.28
2.89
7.00
2005
79.37
74.59
4.52
9.30
2006
107.27
94.37
4.10
17.00
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for CRT TV produced in China (1989 – 2006)
year
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
million set 1989
9.40
2.07
0.08
7.41
1990
10.33
3.62
0.04
6.75
1991
12.05
3.40
0.05
8.70
1992
13.33
3.17
0.07
10.23
1993
14.36
3.11
0.08
11.33
66
Table 20
1994
16.89
2.22
0.48
14.85
1995
20.58
5.18
0.33
15.73
1996
25.38
5.37
0.41
20.41
1997
27.11
4.29
0.42
23.25
1998
34.97
4.38
0.30
30.88
1999
42.62
5.69
0.26
37.18
2000
39.36
10.32
0.09
29.13
2001
41.95
11.63
0.05
30.37
2002
50.14
16.12
0.09
34.11
2003
60.11
20.11
0.13
40.13
2004
73.72
22.27
0.26
51.70
2005
78.92
25.64
0.18
53.46
2006
84.16
29.92
0.29
54.53
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for LCD TV produced in China (2001 – 2006)
year
Table 21
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
2001
0.76
million set 1.51
2002
1.21
1.81
0.61
0.01
2003
1.66
2.19
0.58
0.06
2004
3.06
3.09
0.25
0.22
2005
8.49
7.29
0.06
1.26
2006
18.44
14.71
0.07
3.80
0.75
0.01
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for PDP TV produced in China (2001 – 2006)
year
Output
Export
Import
Consumption
million set 2001 2002
0.16 0.21
0.01 0.02
0.00 0.00
0.15 0.20
2003
0.32
0.02
0.00
0.30
2004
0.58
0.10
0.02
0.50
2005
1.04
0.24
0.01
0.80
2006
1.68
0.64
0.00
1.05
67
Table 22
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for washing machines produced in China (1989 – 2006)
year
Table 23
Output
Export Import million set
Consumption
1989
8.25
0.23
0.00
8.02
1990
6.63
0.29
0.00
6.34
1991
6.87
0.38
0.00
6.49
1992
7.08
0.42
0.00
6.67
1993
8.96
0.23
0.00
8.73
1994
10.94
0.46
0.05
10.48
1995
9.48
0.50
0.05
9.04
1996
10.75
0.56
0.04
10.23
1997
12.54
0.71
0.03
11.87
1998
12.07
0.53
0.04
11.59
1999
13.42
0.64
0.02
12.81
2000
14.43
1.01
0.03
13.46
2001
14.37
2.00
0.03
12.40
2002
14.67
2.20
0.03
12.50
2003
16.97
4.00
0.03
13.00
2004
20.26
6.29
0.03
14.00
2005
24.47
9.49
0.03
15.00
2006
28.05
11.42
0.03
16.66
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for refrigerators produced in China (1989 – 2006)
year
Output
Export Import million set
Consumption
1989
6.71
0.23
0.29
6.78
1990
4.63
0.39
0.07
4.31
1991
4.70
0.23
0.00
4.47
1992
4.86
0.42
0.00
4.45
1993
5.97
0.19
0.01
5.78
1994
7.68
0.41
0.01
7.27
1995
9.19
0.54
0.05
8.70
1996
9.80
0.58
0.03
9.24
1997
10.44
0.79
0.02
9.67
1998
10.60
0.88
0.02
9.73
1999
12.10
1.24
0.01
10.87
2000
12.79
2.18
0.01
10.62
2001
10.89
4.10
1.50
8.29
68
Table 24
2002
14.22
5.50
1.98
10.70
2003
17.07
7.48
2.01
11.60
2004
23.22
10.39
0.07
12.90
2005
26.12
13.74
0.18
12.56
2006
30.69
16.52
0.10
14.27
Production, import, export and domestic sales data for air conditioners produced in China (1989 – 2006)
year
Output
Export Import million set
Consumption
1989
0.37
0.01
0.00
0.37
1990
0.24
0.00
0.00
0.24
1991
0.63
0.01
0.01
0.62
1992
1.58
0.03
0.02
1.56
1993
3.46
0.07
0.03
3.43
1994
3.93
0.08
0.04
3.89
1995
6.83
0.15
0.08
6.76
1996
7.86
0.20
0.05
7.71
1997
9.74
0.51
0.01
9.24
1998
11.57
0.68
0.01
10.89
1999
13.38
1.06
0.04
12.35
2000
18.27
1.78
0.03
16.52
2001
13.00
3.18
0.01
9.83
2002
20.18
6.11
0.01
14.08
2003
30.03
9.38
0.78
21.43
2004
58.63
28.88
0.13
29.88
2005
56.87
30.32
0.18
26.73
2006
58.16
33.63
0.22
24.75
69
Desktop PC
Notebook PC 60
50
45
Output Export Import Consumption
40
Output Export Import Consumption
50
35 40
million sets
million sets
30
25
20
30
20
15
10 10 5
0 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06
0 1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Mobile Phone 400
Output Export Import Consumption
350
300
million sets
250
200
150
100
50
0 1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
CRT Monitor
LCD Monitor 120
45
Output Export Import Consumption
40
35
80
million sets
30
million sets
Output Export Import Consumption
100
25
20
60
40
15
10 20 5
0
0 1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Figure 39 Production, import, export and domestic sales data for ICT products produced in China
70
CRT TV
LCD TV 20
90
18
Output Export Import Consumption
80
70
Output Export Import Consumption
16
14 60
million sets
million sets
12 50
40
10
8 30 6 20
4
10
2
0
0 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
PDP TV 2
Output Export Import Consumption
2
1
million sets
1
1
1
1
0
0
0 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Figure 40 Production, import, export and domestic sales data for TV devices produced in China
71
Washing Machine
Refrigerator
30
25
35
Output Export Import Consumption
30
Output Export Import Consumption
25
million sets
10^4 sets
20
15
20
15
10 10
5
5
0
0 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Air Conditioner 70
60
Output Export Import Consumption
million sets
50
40
30
20
10
0 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 41 Production, import, export and domestic sales data for large household appliances produced in China
72
6.1.3
Location and market share of PC producer, exporter and importer in China
The following tables show the top five producers of PC monitors and printed wiring boards (PWB) respectively. Table 25 Top five producers (brand) of PC monitor in China (2005)
Producer
PC CRT monitor
PC LCD monitor
Location
Samsung
29%
29%
Suzhou and Tianjin
Philips
29%
9%
Shanghai
ViewSonic
14%
14%
Suzhou and Shanghai
LG
7%
7%
Nanjing
Other
21%
41%
Table 26 Top five producers (brand) of printed wiring boards (PWB) in China (2005)
Producer and exporter Lianneng Science (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Tianli Printed Wiring Board Co., Ltd.
Location
province
Shenzhen
Guangdong
Guangzhou Guangdong
Guangdong Shengyi Science and Technology Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Guangdong Hushi Electronics Co., Ltd.
Kunshan
Jiangsu
Yaxin Electronics (Dongguan) Co., Ltd.
Dongwan
Guangdong
Table 27
Market share of major PC producer in China (CCID Consulting Co., Ltd. July, 2006; ZOL investigation center. January of 2006)
Year
Producer 2002
2005
Location 2006 Beijing, shanghai
Lenovo
28.30% 33.30% 33.30%
Founder
10.50%
8.20%
TongFang
6.50%
15.60% 11.80%
Wuxi (Jiangsu)
Dell
6.20%
12.10% 13.60%
Xiamen (Zhejiang)
HP
3%
15.20%
7.60%
Hedy
2%
4.30%
7.50%
Changcheng
2.90%
2.40%
2.40%
Others
40.60%
8.90%
16.90%
6.90%
Huizhou (Guangdong) Suzhou (Jiangsu)
73
Table 28
Sales data of PC according provinces in China (2006, Q2) (CCID Consulting Co., Ltd. July, 2006; ZOL investigation center. January of 2006)
Province
Sale (104unit)
Shanghai Guangdong Beijing Zhejiang Jiangsu Fujian Shandong Sichuan Anhui Hubei Guangxi Chongqing Shaanxi Heilongjiang Liaoning Tianjin
37.86 37.17 35.98 25.7 25.25 22.61 18.99 18.88 15.08 14.99 14.65 14.33 12.86 12.57 11.63 11.59
Proportion Province Sale (104unit) Proportion Market share Market share 8.80% Hebei 10.87 2.50% 8.60% Henna 10.55 2.50% 8.40% Yunnan 9.31 2.20% 6.00% Shanxi 8.91 2.10% 5.90% Hunan 8.22 1.90% 5.30% Jiangxi 7.91 1.80% 4.40% Jilin 7.52 1.70% 4.40% Gansu 7.13 1.70% 3.50% Inner Mongolia 6.87 1.60% 3.50% Guizhou 6.25 1.50% 3.40% Xinjiang 5.92 1.40% 3.30% Hainan 5.02 1.20% 3.00% Ningxia 2.25 0.50% 2.90% Qinghai 2.19 0.50% 2.70% Tebit 1.49 0.30% 2.70% National 430.56 100.00%
74
6.2
Annex 2 – List of Tables
TABLE 1
COMPONENTS AND MATERIALS FOR THE HERE EXAMINED CHINESE DESKTOP COMPUTER, BASED ON A PENTIUM IV PROCESSOR (DATA TAKEN FROM (HIKWAMA 2005)).................................................................... 15
TABLE 2
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM PRODUCED IN CHINA .......................................................................................................... 16
TABLE 3
DISTANCE ESTIMATION [KM] FOR THE TRANSPORTS OF SCREENS AND PWB TOWARDS THE DESKTOP PC PRODUCING COMPANIES IN CHINA 19
TABLE 4
DISTANCE ESTIMATION [KM] FOR PWB DISTRIBUTED IN WORLDWIDE (1 OWN ESTIMATIONS IN THIS STUDY; 2 DATA FROM ECOINVENT). ........... 19
TABLE 5
DISTANCE ESTIMATION [KM] FOR THE EXPORT OF CHINESE DESKTOP PC SYSTEMS (1 OWN ESTIMATIONS IN THIS STUDY; 2 DATA FROM ECOINVENT).................................................................................................... 20
TABLE 6
AVERAGE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF PC’S USE STAGE (PER UNIT) (NOTE: 1. INCLUDING KEY BOARD AND MOUSE. CRT AND LCD MONITOR ACCOUNT FOR 50% AND 50% RESPECTIVELY.) OFFICE USE IN CHINA IS 252 DAYS PER YEAR. HOME USE IS ASSUMED 365 DAYS PER YEAR.( * ECOINVENT DATA.) ........................................................................................ 22
TABLE 7
COMPOSITION DATA OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS (GWMR 2005) 42
TABLE 8
LIFESPAN, SPECIFIC ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION AND TOTAL, ANNUAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION (OF ALL IN 2005 IN CHINA PRODUCED SUCH DEVICES) OF PERSONAL COMPUTER, CRT TV, AIR CONDITIONER, WASHING MACHINE AND REFRIGERATOR (HTTP://WWW.EERE.ENERGY.GOV/CONSUMER/YOUR_HOME/APPLIANCE S) ...................................................................................................................... 43
TABLE 9
ESTIMATED EFFECTIVE LIFESPAN FOR SELECTED E-PRODUCTS IN CHINA............................................................................................................... 50
TABLE 10
ESTIMATED E-WASTE GENERATION IN CHINA IN MILLION UNITS (*INTERPOLATION USING AN EXPONENTIAL OR LINEAR REGRESSION FUNCTIONS) FOR 2000 - 2015 ....................................................................... 50
TABLE 11
ESTIMATED E-WASTE GENERATION IN CHINA IN THOUSAND TONS FOR 2000 - 2015....................................................................................................... 51
75
TABLE 12
E-WASTE GENERATION IN SELECTED COUNTRIES (EMPA 2007) AND (TERAZONO, MURAKAMI ET AL. 2006) ......................................................... 53
TABLE 13 TRADE OF HIGH-TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS OF EXPORT TO AND IMPORT FROM ABROAD (CUSTOM 2005) (NOTE: ASEAN, ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS ....................................................................... 62 TABLE 14
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR DESKTOP PCS PRODUCED IN CHINA (1989 – 2006)................................... 64
TABLE 15
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR NOTEBOOK PCS PRODUCED IN CHINA (1995 – 2006) ............................... 65
TABLE 16
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR MOBILE PHONES PRODUCED IN CHINA (1995 – 2006) .............................. 65
TABLE 17
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR CRT MONITOR PRODUCED IN CHINA (1997 – 2006) ........................................... 66
TABLE 18
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR LCD MONITOR PRODUCED IN CHINA (2001 – 2006) ........................................... 66
TABLE 19
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR CRT TV PRODUCED IN CHINA (1989 – 2006)........................................................ 66
TABLE 20
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR LCD TV PRODUCED IN CHINA (2001 – 2006)........................................................ 67
TABLE 21
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR PDP TV PRODUCED IN CHINA (2001 – 2006)........................................................ 67
TABLE 22
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR WASHING MACHINES PRODUCED IN CHINA (1989 – 2006) ....................... 68
TABLE 23
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR REFRIGERATORS PRODUCED IN CHINA (1989 – 2006) ............................. 68
TABLE 24
PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR AIR CONDITIONERS PRODUCED IN CHINA (1989 – 2006)................................. 69
TABLE 25 TOP FIVE PRODUCERS (BRAND) OF PC MONITOR IN CHINA (2005) ........... 73 TABLE 26 TOP FIVE PRODUCERS (BRAND) OF PRINTED WIRING BOARDS (PWB) IN CHINA (2005) ................................................................................................... 73 TABLE 27
MARKET SHARE OF MAJOR PC PRODUCER IN CHINA (CCID CONSULTING CO., LTD. JULY, 2006; ZOL INVESTIGATION CENTER. JANUARY OF 2006) ......................................................................................... 73
76
TABLE 28
SALES DATA OF PC ACCORDING PROVINCES IN CHINA (2006, Q2) (CCID CONSULTING CO., LTD. JULY, 2006; ZOL INVESTIGATION CENTER. JANUARY OF 2006) ......................................................................................... 74
77
6.3
Annex 3 – List of Figures
FIGURE 1
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN MANUFACTURING, DISTRIBUTION, USE AND END-OF-LIFE PHASES (UPPER GRAPH) AND ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF DIFFERENT UNITS OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM (LOWER GRAPH) .............................................................................................................. 3
FIGURE 2
ANNUAL MATERIAL CONSUMPTION (UPPER GRAPH) AND ANNUAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION (LOWER GRAPH) OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND PERSONAL COMPUTER PRODUCED IN 2005 IN CHINA, ASSESSED USING ECOINDICATOR 99 POINTS..................................................................................... 4
FIGURE 3
DIFFERENT COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRIC EQUIPMENTS (HISCHIER, WÄGER ET AL. 2005) ........................................... 6
FIGURE 4
THE DIFFERENT STEPS OF A LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) STUDY ACCORDING TO THE ISO TECHNICAL STANDARD 14’040........................... 7
FIGURE 5
GENERAL REPRESENTATION OF THE METHODOLOGY. THE WHITE BOXES ABOVE REFER TO INTERMEDIATE RESULTS; THE OTHER BOXES BELOW REFER TO PROCEDURES (FOR MORE, SEE AT: HTTP://WWW.PRE.NL/ECO-INDICATOR99/ECOINDICATOR_99_INTRODUCTION.HTM)........................................................... 9
FIGURE 6
FUNCTIONAL UNIT „ DESKTOP PC SYSTEM WITH CRT MONITOR“ (PRINTER NOT INCLUDED)............................................................................ 10
FIGURE 7
SIMPLIFIED SYSTEM OF THE EXAMINED COMPLETE LIFE CYCLE OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM ................................................................................... 12
FIGURE 8
MODEL OF THE DESKTOP PC SYSTEM WITH THE THREE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DATA (MORE: SEE TEXT) .......................................................... 14
FIGURE 9
GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION OF PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF DESKTOP PC SYSTEMS PRODUCED IN CHINA .......................................... 17
FIGURE 10 LOCATION OF THE LEADING DESKTOP PC, SCREEN AND COMPONENTS PRODUCERS IN CHINA .................................................................................. 18 FIGURE 11 PERCENTAGES OF PC’S OFFICE- AND HOME-ENVIRONMENT USERS IN CHINA (2006) (TIANJI 2006) ............................................................................ 21 FIGURE 12 GLOBAL AVERAGE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS (IN ECO-INDICATOR 99 POINTS) OF THE COMPLETE LIFE CYCLE (I.E. MANUFACTURING,
78
DISTRIBUTION, USE AND END-OF-LIFE TREATMENT) OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM PRODUCED IN CHINA AND USED GLOBALLY. ............................ 25 FIGURE 13 MANUFACTURING PHASE - THE MOST IMPORTANT EXCHANGES WITH NATURE (RESOURCE EXTRACTION / EMISSIONS TO AIR, WATER, SOIL) CONTRIBUTING TO THE OVERALL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THIS SPECIFIC LIFE STAGE.................................................................................... 25 FIGURE 14 END-OF-LIFE (EOL) PHASE - THE MOST IMPORTANT EXCHANGES WITH NATURE (RESOURCE EXTRACTION / EMISSIONS TO AIR, WATER, SOIL) CONTRIBUTING TO THE OVERALL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THIS SPECIFIC LIFE STAGE (NEGATIVE VALUES INDICATE AN ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT).......................................................................... 26 FIGURE 15 COMPARISON OF THE OVERALL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM WITH VARIOUS LCIA METHODS: ECO-INDICATOR 99 (TOP, LEFT), SWISS ECO-POINTS (TOP, RIGHT), CUMULATIVE ENERGY DEMAND (BOTTOM, LEFT) AND GLOBAL WARMING (BOTTOM, RIGHT) ........................................................................ 27 FIGURE 16 THE OVERALL LIFE CYCLE OF A DESKTOP PERSONAL COMPUTER, EVALUATED WITH THE CML’01 METHOD. ................................................... 28 FIGURE 17 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (IN ECO-INDICATOR 99 POINTS) OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF ONE DESKTOP PC SYSTEM PRODUCED IN CHINA TO THE FOUR MAJOR MARKETS (MORE DETAILS SEE CHAPTER 3.2.4.2) AS WELL AS GLOBAL AVERAGE VALUE, BASED ON THE CURRENT EXPORT RATES. ............................................................................................................. 29 FIGURE 18 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (IN ECO-INDICATOR 99 POINTS) OF THE USE PHASE – RESULTS FOR THE USE OF ONE DESKTOP PC SYSTEM PRODUCED IN CHINA IN THE FOUR MAJOR MARKETS (MORE DETAILS SEE CHAPTER 3.2.4.2) AS WELL AS GLOBAL AVERAGE VALUE, BASED ON THE CURRENT EXPORT RATES. FOR COMPARISON REASON, THE TOTAL LOAD DURING THE MANUFACTURING PHASE OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM IS SHOWN ON THE LEFT SIDE (ROW “MANUF.”)......................... 30 FIGURE 19 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM. THE PRODUCTION OF ONE COMPUTER IS COMPARED WITH THE PRODUCTION EFFORTS OF A 17-INCH CRT SCREEN, A 17-INCH LCD SCREEN, A KEYBOARD AND AN OPTICAL MOUSE. ................................... 31 FIGURE 20 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A DESKTOP COMPUTER SYSTEM. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE
79
FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT............................................................................................................ 32 FIGURE 21 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A LOGIC TYPE IC. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 2.5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT. 32 FIGURE 22 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT PIECES WITHIN A DESKTOP PC. THE PRODUCTION EFFORTS (RIGHT SIDE) ARE COMPARED WITH THE COMPOSITION SHOWN IN TABLE 1. .................... 33 FIGURE 23 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A DESKTOP PC. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT. ... 34 FIGURE 24 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A 17-INCH CRT SCREEN. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT............................................................................................................ 35 FIGURE 25 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT PIECES WITHIN A 17-INCH CRT SCREEN. ................................................................................................. 35 FIGURE 26 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT PIECES WITHIN A 17-INCH LCD SCREEN................................................................................................... 36 FIGURE 27 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A LCD MODULE FOR A 17-INCH LCD SCREEN. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT. .......................................................... 37 FIGURE 28 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE MANUFACTURING OF A 17-INCH LCD SCREEN. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT............................................................................................................ 38 FIGURE 29 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND BENEFITS DUE TO THE EOL OF A DESKTOP PC SYSTEM. .................................................................................. 39 FIGURE 30 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS (RED) AND BENEFITS (GREEN ARROWS) RESPECTIVELY OF THE DIFFERENT STEPS WITHIN THE END-OF-LIFE
80
TREATMENT OF A COMPLETE DESKTOP PC SYSTEM. FLOW DIAGRAM OUT OF THE USED LCA SOFTWARE SYSTEM – SHOWING ALL THOSE FLOWS THAT ARE CONTRIBUTING TO MORE THAN 5% TO THE OVERALL RESULT............................................................................................................ 39 FIGURE 31 GLOBAL AVERAGE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (ECO-INDICATOR 99 POINTS – IN % OF PRODUCTION OF ONE DESKTOP PC) OF THE COMPLETE LIFE CYCLE OF ONE DESKTOP PC (SEE ALSO CHAPTER 3.3.1), ONE CRT TV, ONE AIR CONDITIONER, ONE WASHING MACHINE AND ONE REFRIGERATOR PRODUCED IN CHINA (SIMPLIFIED CALCULATION, BASED SIMPLIFIED LCA DATA FROM ECOINVENT). ....... 44 FIGURE 32 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE MANUFACTURING PHASE PER UNIT OF A DESKTOP PC, A CRT TV, AN AIR CONDITIONER, A WASHING MACHINE AND A REFRIGERATOR (SIMPLIFIED CALCULATION, BASED STANDARD LCA DATA FROM ECOINVENT)................................................. 45 FIGURE 33 ANNUAL MATERIAL CONSUMPTION FOR THE PRODUCTION OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS (BASED ON DATA 2005) ............................ 45 FIGURE 34 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADS OF THE ANNUAL CHINESE PRODUCTION OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS (SIMPLIFIED CALCULATION, BASED STANDARD LCA DATA FROM ECOINVENT)................................................. 46 FIGURE 35 ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND DESKTOP PERSONAL COMPUTERS DUE TO ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN USE PHASE – RESULTS PER UNIT OF THESE DEVICES (PRODUCED IN CHINA – USED GLOBALLY). ..................................................................................................... 47 FIGURE 36 ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF REFRIGERATORS, WASHING MACHINES, AIR CONDITIONERS, CRT TVS AND DESKTOP PERSONAL COMPUTERS PRODUCED IN CHINA DUE TO ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN USE PHASE (ON A GLOBAL LEVEL) – RESULTS FOR THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF DEVICES PRODUCED IN CHINA IN 2005........... 47 FIGURE 37 ESTIMATED E-WASTE GENERATION IN CHINA IN THOUSAND TONS (2000 – 2015).............................................................................................................. 52 FIGURE 38 TRADE OF HI-TECH. PRODUCTS OF EXPORT TO AND IMPORT FROM ABROAD (CUSTOM 2005)............................................................................... 63 FIGURE 39 PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR ICT PRODUCTS PRODUCED IN CHINA ............................................................... 70
81
FIGURE 40 PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR TV DEVICES PRODUCED IN CHINA.................................................................... 71 FIGURE 41 PRODUCTION, IMPORT, EXPORT AND DOMESTIC SALES DATA FOR LARGE HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES PRODUCED IN CHINA ........................ 72
82
7
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