International environmental performance measurement in the electronics industry

The electronics industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact. Assemblers demand that component manufacturers document their environmental performance. Performance measures are needed to sort out good from bad environmental performance and practices. We present an approach to characterize the environmental burdens associated with materials, products and processes based on material use and environmental discharge data from manufacturing facilities. Each chemical is weighted by its toxicity, a first order approximation to the health burden on the population. We illustrate this method with a time trend analysis for the electronics industry, using data from the US Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and the Census of Manufacturers. We find that the sector´s environmental emissions are showing a downward trend. Comparable data availability in other countries (e.g., Canada and the Netherlands) are discussed. We examine the possibility of international environmental performance measurement and benchmarking using discharge data from different countries. The limitations of the approach are mentioned. Our indices provide information to electronics firms in making decisions about environmental control investments and plant performance. They facilitate internal and external benchmarking and allow for better environmental information about the industry