The Don Quixote of solder... I am not being negative here but I should think that MY Lifetime contribution to world waste... Wouldn't add a speck to the backside of a fly... compared to ... China in the 1700's... for example. I fully agree in EVERY respect the bans on solder for ANY NATION... But I am not so conceited as to believe for a minute that any contribution to either side of the argument is going to do anything except.. Lip Service... Much better in my way of thinking to conserve your resources for things that really matter. I purchase a pound of solder about every 5 years... and here is an example of why I consider the "Ban" to be a total waste of time for the private, non commercial "Limited" use of solder... In this world there are MANY Stained Glass windows and More being built by the day... What is done for the runoff from the lead used to create those Majestic creations to the Glory of... Were I Sony, Mitsubishi... any of the giant's it would be of some concern, Some Great Concern. However my use of solder, if continued unabated until I died of lead poisoning wouldn't be enough to make any difference whatsoever and it does make a great deal of difference to me, That ersatz stuff crystallizes and breaks where lead based solders don't. I repair equipment today as a hobby and the number one failure on most laptops is bad solder... when you finally get to the hardware level. 2. the whole movement is based on bad science distorted all out of proportion to the real effects... Yeah there is a great deal of money spent on re-mediating the "Solder (Lead)" Problem... Damn shame 10% of that money wasn't spent on dealing with Carbon Pollution... and I would be willing to bet that atmospheric warming is a whole lot more likely to be the cause of your eventual demise... than a case of lead poisoning... for that matter there is about 20% of the lead based solder used to make a color television today... compared to even 20 years ago. I believe in Ecology with ALL my HEART, however I Believe that "Tree Huggers are getting in the way of REAL ECOLOGICAL PROGRESS... Simply by being a nuisance.
There was a man who a Very long time ago, That made one important observation... Fight the Battles you can win... Sun Tzu... The Art of War.
Doc
Let the War Begin...