More about Material declaration
A material declaration can be "positive" or
"negative". A "positive" material declaration lists what
substances the product contains and a "negative" material declaration
lists what substances the product does not contain.
An example of a "positive" material declaration is a list:
Problems with "cut-off" levels and reporting have to be
addressed:
- Should the materials present in a product be reported at > 5%, >1%
or >0.1%, for example?
- Should there be different levels for different material types?
- How should compound materials like alloys or copolymers be reported?
- How should additives like flame retardants, fillers or pigments be
reported?
An example of a "negative" material declaration is a list declaring
substances not present in a product:
For the "negative" listing of materials not present in a
product some questions have to be addressed:
- Only report materials required by law
(asbestos,…)?
- Are there
laws or industry “standards” of what to report for your type of
product?
- What materials should be
included in the "not present" listing?
- At
what level can a material be said to be "not present" in a
product?
- What
materials should be included in the "not present" listing?
- Special
functions, for example, a product does not contain lead except for the battery
which
is easily removed and recycled.
- How are competitors reporting?
The final material declaration may consist of a "positive" list
or a "negative" list or both, depending on the purpose of the
declaration.
Collecting information about the materials in product
For
in-house components it should not be very difficult to get information about the
materials in a product. It is possible to use CAD systems, drawings,
specifications or to interview designers. For external components designed
specifically for the product, it is often necessary to find someone at your
company who has direct contact with the producer and is willing to help you to
obtain the information from the supplier.
Obtaining
information for external, of-the-shelf, components is generally more difficult.
Your suppliers might not know and usually do not have direct contact with the
producer. It may be helpful to try to make a direct contact with the producer
and send questionnaires, for example. The success is however not
guaranteed.
Three examples on how Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia have tried to solve
the problem of communicating material data with suppliers are linked below.
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