Technological advancements continually propel the evolution of new IT products that bring convenience to people’s lives in their workplace, entertainment, and leisure. From another perspective, the rapid replacement of products is resulting in the generation of large amounts of waste electronics and electrical products. The present problem of treating waste electronic and electrical products has already become among the most pressing international environmental protection issues. It is also a major environmental protection concern at Acer.

In the past, most waste electronic and electrical products were not treated; instead, they were usually burned or buried, causing serious environmental damage. Acer believes its responsibility extends beyond the design, manufacture, and sale of products, to include the recycling of discarded products. Confronting this issue, Acer supports the concept of Individual Producer Responsibility and believes that this will place “easily recyclable design considerations” as an important feedback mechanism directly reflected in product design. In this phase of product design, Acer continues to work toward detachable product designs. See Easy Disassemble Design.

Electronic products may contain materials that require selective end-of-life treatment. Disposal of these products should be in accordance with applicable local, state and federal regulations. Refer to the table below for a list of these industry-standard components.

Until each manufacturer’s responsibility systems are fully established, Acer reaches out to assume the manufacturers’ product recycling responsibilities. Acer is working to comply with the EU’s WEEE Directive and each nation’s laws requiring participation in recycling systems, as well as planning for recycling of waste products. The following information concerning resource recycling information in Taiwan, Europe, U.S.& Canada, Japan and India is compiled below for consumers’ reference.

Taiwan

Recycling of waste IT products in Taiwan is handled through a publicly managed and operated system. Operators receive fees from the Resource Recycling Management Fund based on annual operation volumes and recycling clearance and disposal rates. The Recycling Fund Management Board under the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, is in charge of determining recyclables, issuing treatment subsidies, auditing and verifying treatment volumes, and managing recyclers’ treatment and administrative operations. Taiwan offers a wide spectrum of waste IT product recycling channels, able to utilize clean-up teams, second-hand goods operators, resource recycling organizations, and recycling locations established at IT product retail sales sites. Taiwan has eleven registered waste IT product treatment enterprises. These diverse channels have made it possible to obtain over 90% of required resources from recycled waste IT products.

Acer coordinates efforts with Taiwan’s recycling system by not only making annual payments to the Resource Recycling Management Fund, but also participating in public hearings on recycling, clearance and treatment fee rates to better understand Resource Recycling Management Fund operations and provide suggestions on recycling, clearance and treatment fee rate adjustments.

Central and local governments, operators, consumers, and recyclers all work together to help Taiwan’s publicly managed and operated recycling system achieve progressive results. For information about resource recycling in Taiwan, please refer to the EPA’s Recycling Fund Management Board website:

• Executive Yuan’s Environmental Protection Administration Fund Management Resource Recycling website
• Toll free resource recycling hotline: +886-(0)800-085717

Based on our extended producer responsibility, Acer has visited several principal waste IT product recycling factories in Taiwan to understand the recycling and treatment process, and follow-up recycling material routes as well as current problems. The information collected during these visits will help to adopt relevant environmental protection measures. Plastic casings of waste IT products containing spray paint or gilded finishing create more difficulties with recycling and treatment. Acer has turned this problem over to our design division and will continue to work closely with recyclers and recycling factories in the future to better coordinate recycling and product design channels.

Estimated number of Acer PCs recycled in Taiwan

To understand the recycling status of IT products in Taiwan, Acer visited the Recycling Fund Management Board to access data of the annual amount recycled, the treatment status, the possibility for discarding IT products, and the basis of calculation. Based on the calculation, Acer PCs recycled in total are about 869 tons, 73,261 pieces and 31.2% in 2006, those recycled in 2007 are 876 tons, 77,763 pieces and 29.8%. The calculation and estimation methods are as follow:

Estimation procedure: (for example: Acer notebooks recycled in Taiwan in 2006)

Estimation methods:

Step 1: PC sales amounts in Taiwan¹

¹ Taiwan PC sales amounts: Recycling Fund Management Board/Taiwan EPA (Registration body); Acer PC sales amounts in Taiwan: Gartner report.

Step 2: Disposal probability in Taiwan²

² Taiwan EPA Report, EPA-94-HA15-03-A085

Step 3: Calculating the disposal amount

Disposal amount = Annual sales amount (past 6 years) * Probability for product disposal (step 2)
For example: Disposal amount of 2006 = S1*P1+S2*P2+S3*P3+S4*P4+S5*P5+S6*P6, where S1=Sale amount in 2005, …and S6=Sale amount in 2000

Step 4: Amount recycled in Taiwan

From the annual report of Recycling Fund Management Board/Taiwan EPA (Registration body), http://recycle.epa.gov.tw/epa/index.asp

Step 5: Calculating recycling rates of PC products in Taiwan

Recycling rate in Taiwan = Amount recycled in Taiwan/ disposal amount in Taiwan

Step 6: Acer amount recycled

Assuming the recycling rate of Acer products is identical to total IT products in Taiwan.
Acer amount recycled = Acer disposal amount in Taiwan * Recycling rate in Taiwan

Acer amount recycled in 2006 and 2007

¹ Acer PC recycling rate in Taiwan = Acer amount recycled in Taiwan/ Acer disposal amount in Taiwan, PC = DT+NB
² Basis of calculation (desktop: 12kg, notebook: 4kg).

Europe

The EU’s WEEE Directive officially came into effect in August 2005, aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of waste products by reducing amounts of waste electronics and electrical products, and increasing resource recycling and reuse rates. As Acer products are sold in every nation throughout Europe, we have been able to establish firm foundations in local recycling systems and have worked to comply with the EU’s WEEE Directive standards. Taking into consideration each nation’s unique conditions, Acer also cooperates with the Hellmann Corporation to carry out product recycling for the entire European region. Consumers with waste IT products are asked to contact certified local recyclers to ensure proper treatment.

In addition, Acer visited SWICO (Switzerland), El Kretson (Sweden), Hellmann (German), ICT-Milieu & NVMP (Netherlands), and WEEE Forum (Belgium) to collect Acer’s recycling amount and related information. There are individual collective recycling systems in each European country that calculate the amount recycled according to 10 categories. Due to variations among recycling systems and differentiation of calculation basis, it is still not possible to get the actual amount recycled by brand names. Take the German system as example, the obligation to recycle is the amount put into the market including non-branded products. To expand by that calculation basis, Acer should have recycled more than 20,000 tons of ICT products in Europe in 2007.

• Recycling Channel Contact Information for European Nations

United States and Canada

The U.S. waste electronic product recycling laws are the responsibility of respective states. Each state pursues a different approach with varying rates of success. The improper handling of waste electronic products results in a waste of resources as well as environmental and health hazards. The U.S. EPA has therefore come out with a Plug-in To eCycling Campaign. The campaign encourages voluntary consumer cooperation by promoting the donation of old information products and providing lists of recycling centers prepared to handle waste electronic products. Upon learning of this campaign, Acer has taken active steps to understand and evaluate its execution and benefits. To gather more information and support, Acer is also planning to send representatives to visit the U.S. EPA as well as the California state government and various recyclers.

In 2003, the U.S. state of California promulgated the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, which set the framework for a waste electronic product recycling system. Acer in California has fully cooperated and complied with related regulations. The California government has made it convenient for the public to recycle waste electronic products by establishing a reuse and recycling search engine. The public can search for recycling channels and attain related contact information based on location.

• Recycling Channel Contact Information for California 

Moreover, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are leading the way in promoting the importance of properly handling waste electronic products. NGOs are also actively promoting the implementation of waste electronic product extended producer responsibility. The U.S. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) is an example of one NGO that urges consumers to choose products from companies with recycling plans or products that have registered with the EPEAT. The SVTC further supports extended producer responsibility legislation and consumers can also use lists provided by the SVTC to find recyclers in their areas. Additionally, the Basel Action Network (BAN) has initiated the Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship campaign in the U.S. The campaign seeks to gain assurances that waste electronic products will not be incinerated, buried or shipped to developing countries. BAN is willing to provide information regarding the process of recycling waste electronic products as well as a detailed list of recycling industry signatories to the e-Stewardship Initiative. Acer thus encourages consumers in the U.S. to channel all their waste electronic products to the recyclers listed by SVTC and BAN.

• SVTC: The List of Responsible Recyclers
• BAN: U.S. and Canada Responsible E-cyclers Search

As for waste battery recycling, Acer is a member of the RBRC (Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation). Consumers can simply dial 1-800-8-BATTERY or 1-800-2-RECYCLE should they need to dispose of used notebook PC batteries. Alternatively, they can also find the waste battery recycling location near them online at http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/index.html

Japan

In accordance with Japan’s Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, Acer in Japan is complying with related laws to join PC recycling. Those in Japan wishing to discard Acer products are requested to contact PC Recycling and Acer Japan at the following websites:

• PC Recycling
• Acer Japan Recycling Information Network

India

According to inspections conducted by environmental groups such as Greenpeace, BAN and the SVTC, the dumping of global waste electronic products is already gradually shifting from China to other developing nations such as India and some countries in South America. The high value of recycling old electronic products means there are many recyclers willing to get into the business. But after the essentials are stripped, the remaining parts of waste electronic products often contain heavy metals that cause severe soil and water source pollution when exposed to the environment. Inappropriate handling of discarded electronic products not only causes environmental damage, but can also endanger the health of workers lacking appropriate equipment or technology. In the wake of the trend for advanced nations to establish regulations on waste information product recycling management systems, Acer feels there is an even greater need for similar regulations to address the problems of recycling systems in developing countries.

In order to reduce the instances of inappropriate treatment of discarded information products, Acer has made plans for an e-Waste Program to recycle our products in the burgeoning Indian market on a free and voluntary basis. The program will take website or e-mail registrations followed by consumers sending their old items back to Acer India for treatment. Recyclable items include desktops, notebooks, monitors, projectors and servers. The program is Acer’s initial step into product recycling on a free and voluntary basis. We plan to provide even better recycling services in the future and would like to gradually implement an EPR to help fulfill our corporate responsibilities with annual targets and incentive systems toward society. In the near future, we are willing to cooperate with local associations such as MAIT (Indian IT trade association) to support the Indian government to build up WEEE legislation to manage E-waste in India.

• http://www.acer.co.in/home/ewaste_default.asp