Photocopiers and faxes for work areas, kettles, dishwashers and fridges for the office kitchen – municipalities purchase large quantities of many everyday household and professional appliances, especially for schools and hospitals. At the same time, cities and municipalities have dedicated collection points where people can hand in their old electronic equipment and home appliances. Nevertheless, recycling quotas are low.
However, these devices contain significant quantities of raw materials which, if recycled, could help reduce global mineral extraction and thus help protect the environment. What is more, the extractive industries are rife with reports of labour and human rights abuses. This also applies to the production of electronic and household goods across widely extended supply networks. The upshot: The fewer new appliances procured, the better. It is also important to optimise their usage from an energy efficiency perspective.
Public procurement can generate important incentives for more sustainable production while also pioneering the long-term use, repair, collection and recycling of electronic and household goods.
For general information on integrating sustainability into the procurement process, see here.
An online tool to assess the local human rights situation by "Helpdesk Business & Human Rights" is available here.
Municipal best practice examples of sustainable procurements of electronics, see here (German only).
Further information on electronics (in German):
Click on the individual stages in the information graphic on the left to learn more about the ecological and social challenges when purchasing electronics.
Many different raw materials are needed to manufacture electronic goods and household appliances, including plastics for casings which often also contain processed forms of bauxite and iron ore, i.e. aluminium and steel. Large quantities of copper are needed for wires to conduct electricity. Extracting these and other raw materials involves numerous environmental, social and human rights risks. Examples include:
Environmental challenges:
Social challenges
Metals are made from ores, plastic from crude oil: Stage two of the value chain processes raw materials, turning metals, plastics and other components into so-called ‘intermediate goods’ and ‘semi-finished products’. This includes cables, circuit boards or processors. Substances that are harmful to health are used in many stages of processing, including carcinogenic solvents like benzene or heavy metals like cadmium or lead. The semi-conductor industry in particular uses between 500 and 1,000 different chemicals, many of which are highly noxious.
Further processing frequently also gives rise to environmental and social risks. Examples include:
Environmental challenges:
Social challenges
The manufacturers of electronic goods and household appliances profit from outsourcing production. In keeping with the logic of ‘downward competition’, production often takes place where human rights and social and environmental standards are at their lowest. While big companies in industrialised countries get the lion’s share of the profit, appliance assembly is mostly left to low-wage countries. So-called ‘flexible on-demand production’ forms part of a business model that fosters the abuse of what are already low environmental and social requirements. For example, inhaling toxic fumes when using the organic solvent toluene can result in miscarriages, damage the human nervous system and trigger respiratory ailments.
Other examples of negative production impacts include:
Environmental challenges:
Social challenges
The production of electronic goods and household appliances accounts for the largest proportion of energy and resource consumption. But their usage is also energy intensive. In spite of efforts to make individual appliances more energy efficient, this trend is an upward one – simply because more and more appliances are being produced. The EU energy label and the German Blue Angel ecolabel can point the way forward for energy efficiency.
Carbon footprints can be minimised during product service life, essentially by sourcing green electricity and ensuring the equipment is used for as many years as possible. Thus, at the procurement stage already, it is crucial to factor in the appliance’s capacity for repair and its guaranteed eligibility for software updates over a number of years to ensure that functional items are not prematurely sold or discarded. Also, when procuring appliances, it is important not to buy any unnecessary add-ons, as these are most likely already on hand.
Numerous negative environmental and social impacts occur during usage, including:
Environmental challenges:
Social challenges
Waste from electric and electronic appliances constitutes one of the fastest growing streams of waste in the world. And yet recycling quotas are extremely low. For example, large quantities of European electrowaste are dismantled in the West African states of Ghana and Nigeria under sub-standard environmental and social conditions, At the same time, terms such as ‘urban mining’ and ‘anthropogenic stock’ underscore recycling’s potential, especially for the recovery of metals. To date, the focus has mainly been on economically motivated recycling approaches. However, we need to develop a holistic approach that prioritises environmental and social aspects along the lines of a circular economy. In this context, design4recycling is of enormous importance: that is to say, product development must already stress the item’s repairability and recycling capacity.
At the same time, collection quotas need to be increased. Awareness-raising work and information campaigns, which can also be promoted as part of ‘education for sustainable development’ have a key role to play here. In addition to the recycling depots that municipalities are obliged to operate, they could, in many places, also set up readily accessible ‘electrowaste containers’ or operate ‘hazardous waste mobiles’. Furthermore, they could support community repair workbenches and independent repair workshops.
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Social challenges
Iron ore extraction in Brazil, bauxite mining in Guinea, copper from Peru; production in Hungary, Mexico and China. This is what a supply chain for electronic goods and household appliances might look like. Getting from raw materials extraction to the finished product generally entails long transport distances by ship, truck and train. Fuel consumption and emissions negatively impact the environment and stress the climate in a way that is also harmful to human health. Transport with heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks is regulated by the Euro 6 emissions standard (Commission Regulation EU/582/2011), and procurers should demand compliance from hauliers.