AND PRODUCT END OF LIFE
NATIONAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
MANAGEMENT & COMPLIANCE
ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP
MARK J. SHARP
ATLANTA, GA
SEPTEMBER 24, 2002
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic profile:
Leading brand of the world’s largest Consumer Electronics
Company—Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
– Global sales in FY 01: $52 billion in 170 countries including
$9 billion in North America
• Sales by category
– Consumer (Audio/visual: 23%, Home appliances 18%)
– Industrial (IT and Telecom 28%, industrial equipment 10%)
– Components (21%)
– Large North American presence (20,000 employees)
Manufacturing facilities in 6 States
– Includes factories in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Popular myths about electronics waste*:
– 1) Volumes are skyrocketing
• FALSE
COMPUTERS:
– Computer sales actually declined in 2001
– Y2K investments in technology have slowed the market
– Introduction of new “killer application” software has waned
–
–
–
–
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS:
CE sales through 30 weeks of 2002 are down from 2001 sales
CRT TVs sales down (–11.9%)
TV/VCR combo sales down (-19.4%)
VCRs sales down (-25.8%)
* Excerpted from Jerry Powell speech “E-Scrap’s Future: Recent Key Trends”
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Popular myths about electronics waste:
– 2) Technology changes will breed greater wastes
• FALSE
– HDTV will not obsolete analog TVs
» Affordable converter boxes will be available
» Consumer & broadcaster acceptance of digital TV has been
slow
» HDTV “ready” sales will only reach 1.63 million units in
2002
– Flat panel display sales limited by high prices compared with
CRT-based technology
– Technological change is restrained somewhat by consumer buyin and slowing economy
» Is Windows XP really an essential upgrade?
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Popular myths about electronics waste:
– 3) Management of electronics waste is an immense
environmental problem
• FALSE
• Scope of problem often overstated
– How many TVs will consumers discard even if recycling is convenient
and available?
– Older units tend to migrate inside households
– Sound research and analysis is needed, not anecdotal “evidence”
• What is the real cost of CRT recycling?
– Even within individual states, costs wildly vary
» California survey showed range from $2 to $57.50 each
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic perspective on electronics product
stewardship or End of Life:
– Support proper management of used electronics at end of life (EOL)
– Advocate sustainable “solutions” that protect the environment and are
economically viable
– Panasonic has partnered with other stakeholders to initiate a series of
electronics collection pilot projects
– Panasonic has also developed new material recycling technologies for
plastics and printed wiring boards
– In summary, our design engineers are committed to Environmental
Technology and Ecological Thinking
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Collection Events/Projects Serve Important Role
• Help stimulate development of recycling infrastructure & technology
• Provides valuable information about electronic materials entering end of
life
• Opportunity for manufacturers to work with recyclers and local
communities to help educate the general public
• Relieves participating municipalities from ongoing electronics collection
burden
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic participation in collection events in 2002
– Collection data from 2002 events so far:
– More than 467,000 pounds collected at 25 events during the
first half of 2002 (details to be released Oct. 9th in Philadelphia )
• Events held in PA, NJ, CT, IN, and VA
– Events in Mid-Atlantic states underwritten by EPA grant to
eCycling (collaborative regional initiative of EPA Region III)
– http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/eCycling.htm
• Panasonic joined Sharp and Sony working with
Envirocycle to help defray some costs
• Companies paid costs to recycle their branded products
• About 5% of the collected products were Panasonic
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Current Collection Initiative with Nxtcycle,
Panasonic, Sharp, & Sony
– Ongoing collections planned in 17 California counties and cities
including Los Angeles and San Diego during Fall 2002
– Collections events also held in Salt Lake City, UT, and San
Bernardino County, CA
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic Sponsorship of Best Buy
Program
• Panasonic was the initial corporate sponsor of the Best Buy Program
announced in April 2001
• Best Buy held 10 collection events in 6 states in 2001 (CA, FL, IL, MD,
NJ, WA); additional events planned for 2002
• Over 250,000 pounds of electronics were collected
• Events operated by 3rd Party Recyclers
• Pay-As-You-Throw Model
• Panasonic helped support advertising and discount coupons for new
purchases
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
EIA Pilot Project
• Sponsored by 10 EIA member companies: Panasonic, Canon, Hewlett
Packard, JVC, Kodak, Nokia, Philips, Sharp, Sony and Thomson
• Test 3 collection models:
Municipal, Simulated Advanced Disposal Fee, and Consumer Dropoff
• Developed Solicitation of Interest letters to be sent to State
Governments and other interested parties
• Developing criteria for choosing recyclers
• Collections began late 2001; continuing through 2002
• Grant recipients and partners in collection pilots include:
• eCycling initiative with EPA Region III (mid-Atlantic states)
• Northeast Recycling Council
• State of Florida
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Green product targets:
– Products which improve the environmental efficiency,
meeting Save, Clean, and 3R targets
Target
(GP/All products Developed)
2002
28% or over
2005
70% or over
2010
90% or over
– All Panasonic products evaluated on an Energy Use Index
and a Resource Use Index
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Focus of green products development:
Reduction of toxics in products
• Use of lead-free solder in products
– Tin, silver and bismuth-based solder has been applied to all
Panasonic portable mini-disc players
– Tin and copper-based solder also has been developed by
Panasonic and is used on main PC boards of tabletop VCRs
• Target: Abolish use of lead solder in all models by end of FY
2002
Use of halogen-free plastics
• Eliminates toxic gas emissions when incinerated
• Must overcome issues of reliability, performance & cost
• Patented new method to recycle flame retardant resins
Design for easy recycling
• Recycling of CRT glass slowly increasing as new uses are
developed for the recycled glass
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic initiatives aimed at increasing product
recycling and recyclability
• Panasonic TV tube funnels composed of 10% post
consumer recycled glass
– Highest percentage ever used in new TV tubes
– Breakthrough achieved with industry partners Techneglas and
Envirocycle
• Resin standardization and reduction in number of grades
– Polystyrene (TVs, VCRs, office equipment): 120 grades reduced to 10
– Polypropylene (white goods): 80 grades reduced to 9
– ABS (laptops, some white goods): 200 grades reduced to 12
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Design for minimum resources
Design for Minimum Resource through Simple Assembly and Disassembly
ÅDFMRÅ
Tool to support the design of eco-friendly, recyclable product
Design for Assembly
“less in size, weight and # of parts”
“structure easy to assemble”Å@
design
fabrication
assembly
recycling
material
separation
disassembly
sale
sale
Customer
Material producer
Assembly
purchase
collection
Recycling
Design for Recyclability
“structure easy to disassemble”
“material easy to recycle”
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Å DFMR:New criteria of manufacturing
For the globe (responsible for
community)
For customers (responsible
for business)
Inverse-manufacturing
Manufacturing
Production with less Material
Quality
Production with less Energy
Less work-hour to disassemble
Less parts to disassemble
Less energy to consume
Production Retaining value of material
Abolish hazardous substance
Recyclable material
Reusable parts
Design for durability
Å
Less # of parts
Less alignment task
Less variety of parts
Less fastenings
Cost
Structure for easy assembly
Less # of parts
Less assembly work-hours
Less variety of parts
Easier fastening method
Å
New Product
Less weight of parts
Less # of parts
Less fastening material
Use recycled material
Delivery
Properly layered assembly
Less # of units
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Evolution of Panasonic TV designs
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Evolution of Panasonic TV designs
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Å
Material Recycling System
Å Pursuing “Product to Product” material recycling
Å Achievable by developing a high-accuracy plastics identification system
“Product to Product” material recycling
ÅFrom used TVs to TV components againÅ
End-of-life TV set
Disassembly
Identification Equipment
Development
Material recycling is possible
if plastic types and additives
are identified.
ÅNew TV
Crush
Re-pellet
Mold
Non-flame retardant
Flame retardant
Decabromo
Triazine
TBA
Ethylenebis
Disassembly equipment
development
Matsushita Eco-technology Center
Paint
Stains
Foreign particles removal
technology development
Å@Removing metals, non-woven cloth, trash etc.
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
Panasonic has developed high accuracy plastic
identification equipment
– Equipment uses infra-red measurements & is nearly 100%
accurate in identifying plastics
New PC Board recycling system also has been
developed by Panasonic
– System uses unique parts separator to sort parts, purify
valuables, and detoxify precious metals
– Reduces processing costs by 87%
Panasonic is commercially marketing these machines to
the recycling industry
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PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
• Panasonic is proud of its environmental
record of achievements
• Our Environmental Record:
• Life cycle assessments performed across all major
product categories in minimize impact on environment
• Over 3,100 major suppliers have been evaluated under
new Green Procurement Guidelines
• Commitment to eliminate use of leaded solder in all
products; already sold over 6 million units with leadfree solder
• Certification of 252 manufacturing sites worldwide to
ISO 14000 Environmental Management System
• 4-Time Energy Star Partner of the Year award winner
(1999-2002)
PANASONIC & PRODUCT END OF LIFE
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