Lead-free soldering - future aspects of toxicity, energy and resource consumption

Environmental impacts of lead-free soldering have received little attention so far. Toxicity, energy and resource consumption of different lead-free soldering materials were compared to conventional soldering. Some lead-free materials increase the energy consumption, but almost all of them reduce the toxicity stress to the environment in the end-of-life phase. The overall environmental evaluation is positive for lead-free soldering. Scarce silver supplies could possibly be stressed by lead-free soldering. Recycling of PWB will further improve the toxicity of lead-free soldered PWB, reduce the energy consumption and minimize the stress on silver resources