Compliances

Spartech has a long history of developing materials to help end-applications meet or exceed pending and active environmental directives such as RoHS (the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive) and CARB (California Air Resources Board gas emission reduction directives).

For solutions in helping your products to comply with or exceed legislative action in the US or abroad, you can rely on Spartech.

European Union Directives RoHS Directive (EU Directive 2002/95/EC) RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Materials) supports the recycling requirements of the WEEE Directive by virtually eliminating certain hazardous chemicals used in production. This reduces the risk to human health from exposure particularly for recycling staff as well as reducing potentially negative environmental impact. Restricted Substances PBB - Polybrominated Biphenyls PBDE - Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Lead Mercury Cadmium Hexavalent chromium (Chrome VI) Even though RoHS will not be in effect until mid-2006, Spartech has certified many of its products for compliance. Contact Us for more details. The WEEE (Waste electrical and electronic equipment) Directive aims to raise the level of recycling of electrical and electronic equipment (EEEE) and encourages designers to create products with recycling in mind. With more and more electrical and electronic items becoming affordable, coupled with the shorter life cycle of these products, millions of tons of EEE are sent to landfill throughout Europe every year. The WEEE Directive encourages product design to take into account repair, reuse and recycling at end-of-life. Potentially, a key part of this is to make manufacturers and importers ("producers") of EEE responsible for meeting the costs of the collection, treatment and recovery of WEEE. If products are designed with this in mind, there is an opportunity to reduce these costs ant to ultimately reduce the amount of material sent to landfill. As with the RoHS Directive, Spartech has certified many of its products for compliance with the WEEE Directive. Contact Us for more details.

US Directives CARB and EPA California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the EPA are two US governmental agencies that are continually striving for cleaner air. To aid in their efforts, Spartech plastics has developed products like our LowE Poly sheet material. Currently used in manufacture of fuel cells for the VW Passat vehicle, this material virtually eliminates the evaporative emission of gasoline and has allowed for new and future requirements not only to be met, but exceeded. LEEDS The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the U.S. Green Building Council representing all segments of the building industry developed LEED and continue to contribute to its evolution. At Spartech, we not only utilize LEED practices in our own facilities, but have worked to develop various products for the Building and Construction Materials market segments to help make our customers' products more LEED-friendly.