BEIJING – A meeting of company executives and electronics association leaders from around the globe at the Eighth Annual World Electronics Forum (WEF) this week advocated the principle of shared responsibility by all parties for the management of end-of-life electronics. A voluntary system in which stakeholders – including designers, producers, government, suppliers, users and disposers – participate according to their expertise is one that the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) has long supported in the U.S.

The Forum’s official communiqué – circulated by WEF Secretariat and EIA President Dave McCurdy – emphasized the electronics industry’s commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of electronics over their entire life cycle. This position is in line with EIA’s pro-active approach to environmentally responsible design and consumer education, and its regulatory and legislative work.

In addition, WEF members agreed that pollution prevention and resource conservation must be approached on a worldwide basis, and that global coordination is necessary to eliminate barriers to movement of end-of-life products for environmentally responsible recycling and reuse.

“The electronics industry is a global one, and our efforts towards innovative environmental solutions need to be global, as well,” said McCurdy. “The manufacturers we represent can make their greatest contribution in the design phase: every year, our products get smaller, cheaper, better, faster and more environmentally friendly.

“A system based on shared responsibility by all those involved will make the collection of electronics at the end of their lives more efficient and ensure economies of scale by using existing recycling infrastructure.”

The World Electronics Forum is a voluntary gathering of company executives and directors of electronics industry associations worldwide. The goal is to meet annually and discuss key topics of common interest, exchange information on services and data, and strengthen relations between associations for the benefit of the global industry. The Eighth Annual WEF included representatives from 12 countries.

The U.S. delegation to the WEF included McCurdy; Phil Bond, undersecretary for technology and chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans; Matt Flanigan, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA); Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA); EIA board members Richard Russell of Tech Spray and Tom Patton of Philips Electronics; Brian Kelly, vice president of government relations at EIA; and Jason Leuck, TIA’s director of international policy.

In addition to environmental issues, this year’s WEF also addressed the electronics industry’s role in the broadband technology and China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The Forum’s location this year in Beijing highlights the importance of China’s commitments to reform in such areas as trade, transparency and intellectual property rights. While recognizing that it is too early to evaluate the extent of China’s compliance and that the multi-step process will take time, WEF members agreed that China is undertaking far-reaching improvements that are unprecedented in scope and complexity. 

To read the full text of the Eighth Annual WEF communiqué, please click here.