"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:48:02 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Most shot used in clay shooting is no longer lead, I seem to recall.
Anyway,
the point is that if it is, it is not recycled, so remains lying where it
is. Solder accounts for less than 1% of the world's mined lead, over 80%
going to car battery manufacture. The car battery industry have managed to
organise virtually 100% safe recycling, so are allowed to carry on using
lead on this basis, and the contention that there is no suitable
alternative. With the coming of the WEEE directive shortly, end of life
electronic equipment will have to be safely recycled in much the same way,
so where's the difference ? If the car battery people can do it, I'm sure
that the electronic people can also do it with less than 1/80th the
volume.

I wonder how much lead is in a typical CRT? BTW, I googled for "lead
free CRT" but got very few hits.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

First to Jim two posts above. You are missing the point. The electronic
waste will no longer sit in landfill, because the new WEEE directive, in
Europe at least, will make sure that the equipment is recycled, and any lead
content removed. Electronic equipment in landfill will soon become a thing
of the past. Anyway, just how soluble is lead in water ? I'm not too sure,
but I expect some clever chemistry graduate will tell us. In the past, water
was delivered to all households in the UK via lead pipes. In a lot of older
properties, it still is. Certainly, the house that I grew up in had lead
pipework. I am not aware of people of my generation all dying of lead
poisoning, or having suffered intelligence lowering due to lead-induced
brain damage. In fact, since lead piping has been being removed here, the
kids have been getting progressively thicker ... !! I have heard people say
that delivering water via lead pipes is of no consequence, because the pipes
quickly get an internal coating of limescale, that insulates the water from
the lead, but some areas of the country have very soft water, with little or
no calcium content, so I'm not sure that this argument " holds water " (
ouch !! ).

Even if lead is soluble in water, I can't imagine that it is extremely so,
and I would have thought that water treatment plants would have removed any
in their raw input, or could be made to do so fairly easily. Of much more
concern, I would have thought, must be the organic fertilizers and such that
get into the water supply. I don't know what the situation is your side of
the pond ( I'm assuming you are US based ) regarding landfill. All we ever
hear over here, is that your glorious leader is not a very eco-friendly guy,
but I'm sure from what I've seen on my frequent visits, that isn't the case
amongst the general population.

To Franc. I'm not sure what the percentage of lead is in the lead-glass that
is used for CRT faceplates, but as far as I am aware, it's another
technology that has been deemed not to have a viable alternative, so has
been granted an exemption from the RoHS directive. Total recycling of this
glass should be possible, with no lead-to-environment contamination. As well
as the faceplate glass, I seem to recall that there is some issue also, with
getting a vacuum-proof seal between the CRT pins and the glass, that
involves possibly some other hazardous substance covered by the directive.
Interesting stuff. If anyone has any strong objections on the grounds of
this being off-topic, say so, and I'll stop raising new points ...

Arfa