As nCircle's Director of Operations, I thought I would share some of my experiences working with the new environmental regulations that today's nCircle press announcement described.
Anyone hoping for a break after achieving RoHS (European Directive 2002/95/EC, also known as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances or "RoHS" directive) and WEEE (European Directive 2002/96/EC, also known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive) compliance will be disappointed as the amount of proposed new environmental programs has only accelerated in 2007. No sooner did the dust begin to settle on the RoHS front than the European Commission began the process of reviewing and amending the list of restricted substances. There is no guidance at this time as to which additional substances may be added to the current list of six or the timeframe for elimination, but it's only a matter of time.
On the other side of the world, China officially launched its RoHS program on March 1st of this year. Though modeled on the European Union RoHS legislation, China RoHS has its own unique requirements that must be followed. More recently, South Korea submitted a WTO notification for their version of RoHS/WEEE with a comment deadline of July 21, 2007.
Closer to home, virtually every state in the Union is in the process of considering or passing some form of environmental legislation. Most states are targeting the large consumer items - TV's, personal computers, and large appliances at this time, but computer servers like nCircle appliances will soon follow.
What's next? In addition to more countries adopting their own RoHS/WEEE type programs, there are moves afoot to improve energy usage and efficiency in data centers - project "Green Grid" and IBM's "Green Team" are two of the higher profile efforts in this area that will impact how servers are designed, deployed and utilized in the future. Finally, more and more organizations are moving toward eco-friendly purchasing. The University of California recently announced a new far-reaching "Environmental Sustainability policy" under which they will only buy products registered under EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). Similar to "Energy Star", EPEAT measures products against a set of environmental standards including reduction in harmful chemicals and designs that are more easily recycled.
It's been a busy few years for those of us responsible for RoHS/WEEE compliance and that was only the start. The next few years promise to be even more exciting and I, for one, can't wait.