Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Bright Future Department: Every RoHS has its thorns

... but they may not always be so prickly. RoHS is the long-time-coming standard for electronics manufacturers that restricts lead and five other substances. It took effect in mid-2006. Thanks to RoHS and its cousin, WEEE, the parts that go into lots of the gadgets we buy are becoming less toxic.

And as ScienceDaily reported on May 12, cast-off computers "could one day wind up fueling your car. That's because researchers in Romania and Turkey have developed a simple, efficient method for recycling printed circuit boards into environmentally-friendly raw materials for use in fuel, plastic, and other useful consumer products."

E-waste is still a huge problem, of course, but brilliant responses like this are heartening to hear.

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