27 Apple Suppliers Suspected of Irregular Emissions Apple repeatedly refused to respond positively

On August 31, five public environmental protection organizations, including the Public Environmental Research Center, Darwin, Friends of Nature, Central Friends Technology, and Nanjing Greenstone, jointly released the Apple Company Supplier Environmental Pollution Investigation Report “The Second Face of Apple 2”. Apple's pollution emissions are spreading with production expansion, which seriously threatens the local environment and public health. Together with the first issue of the report “Another Face of Apple” published by the environmental organization on January 20, two surveys revealed that 27 apple suppliers had environmental problems. Just before the release of the report, Apple first expressed its willingness to communicate with environmental NGOs. Experts believe that this is a positive signal that brand owners are responsible for the entire production process of the product.

Vendors pollute environment repeatedly refused to respond positively

Non-government environmental protection organizations, many suppliers, illegal emissions, Apple's well-known manufacturers and experts believe that brand owners are responsible for the production process. From April last year, 36 public environmental NGOs such as the Public Environmental Research Center, Darwin, Friends of Nature, and Environmental Friendly Technology Center passed the field. The survey found that there were problems with heavy metals emissions in the production companies of the 29 internationally renowned IT companies in the industrial chain, and successively released investigation reports and conducted communication and dialogue with the 29 companies. Among them, 28 companies responded and most companies knew about it. To the seriousness of pollution, take measures to control the expansion of pollution caused by global production and procurement. Only Apple Inc. refused to respond positively because it "cannot disclose supply chain information."

On January 20, after conducting field research, 36 non-government environmental NGOs released the “Special Issue of the Heavy Metal Pollution Report in the IT Industry (Phase 4)” Apple Special Issue. The report stated that Apple’s supply chain has serious environmental pollution and labor injury issues. "Clears poison for Apple."

On February 15, Apple announced in its “Progress Report on Supplier Responsibility in 2011” that 137 employees of the company’s Jian Jian Technology had poisoned its cell phone display due to the use of toxic chemical solvent n-hexane. However, the report did not mention how to strengthen supplier management.

Ma Jun, director of the Public Environmental Research Center, believes that if the IT brand only asks for price regardless of environmental performance in procurement, it will encourage suppliers to lower their standards to win orders, and the illegal use of n-hexane by China Construction Technology is the direct cause of the tragedy. "Apple's involvement with suppliers in China is deeper, and they can do more to manage suppliers."

Non-government environmental protection organizations emit emissions from multiple suppliers

Since February, many environmental NGOs such as the Friends of Nature Wuhan Group, Nanjing Greenstone, and Darwin's Natural Knowledge Society have been sent to Wuhan, Guangzhou, Kunshan, Taiyuan and Shenzhen for investigation. After 7 months of field research, the environmental protection organization found that Apple's suppliers in China have serious pollution emissions, which are harmful to the environment and public health in many places.

According to multiple sources, Apple decided early on to identify seven suppliers of iPad 2's second printed circuit boards (PCBs), including Taiwan-based Ibiden, Meiko, and other well-known Taiwanese companies and foreign companies. Among them, Meiko Electronics’ factory in Guangzhou was repeatedly listed on the list of local polluting companies due to serious pollution. This time, Zeng Xiangbin, head of the Friends of Nature team in Wuhan, led the local volunteers to a three-month field visit to Wuhan Mingji.

Zeng Xiangbin said that on the eastern side of the Ming-hsin plant in Wuhan, across a road and green belt, is a 150-meter-long water channel leading to the South Lake. The canals and the connected South Lake are both grey and white, and they also float white foam and black floats. The South Prince Lake is connected to the Yangtze River. The sewage will eventually flow into the Yangtze River. "When the weather is hot, a pungent odor leaps from the wind, making people want to cough." As identified by a third-party testing agency, the body of water contains heavy metals such as copper and nickel, while the lake mud next to the drain contains 4270 mg/kg. Kilograms of copper are 56-193 times more copper than lake sediments in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. “Our generation is drinking sewage, and the next generation will only have to drink poisonous water,” said Wan Zhengyou, a farmer who assisted in the survey.

The survey found that several Apple suppliers have become the subject of public complaints. Kaida Electronics and Dingxin Electronics in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province have been repeatedly complained about waste gas, noise, and waste water. According to the residents of the community, the odorous gases emitted by the company often make them afraid to open the window and they will wake up in the middle of the night. Wanfang Shui'an Community Kindergarten and Al-Qaeda Electronics are separated by only one wall. The children's Tong Haiyi’s friend said, “Sometimes, the class feels strange taste. When my mother comes to pick me up, my head is dizzy.” Haiyi’s mother Said that children often have headaches, dizziness, and often nosebleeds, causing concern. For the health of children, many residents have already sent their children to live elsewhere. The villagers of Tongxin Village next to Kaida Electronics also reflected that Kaida Electronics had built a factory there ten years ago. In 10 years, the original clear river at the village turned into black water like ink. This is very big with waste water and waste gas discharged by enterprises. relationship.

On August 31st, the Public Environment Research Center, Darwin, Friends of Nature, Central Friends Technology and Nanjing Greenstone Environmental Protection Agency jointly issued the research report "The Other Side of Apple 2", together with the previous report "Apple On the other side, two surveys have found that as many as 27 Apple suppliers have experienced environmental problems, including well-known foreign and Taiwanese-funded enterprises such as Ming-Hui Electronics, Yifei Electronics and Foxconn.

Regarding the environmental pollution problems of Meiko Electronics (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Kaida Electronics Co., Ltd. and Dingxin Electronics Co., Ltd., the environmental protection organizations sent letters to the enterprises to understand their environmental management situation. As of August 30, the environmental protection organizations have not received any information from companies. The response.

Apple Inc

In the two surveys, the environmental protection organizations found that as many as 27 Apple suppliers had experienced environmental pollution problems. Among the 36 core violations listed in the 2011 “Supplier Responsibility Report” issued by Apple, there was no word on environmental pollution. mention. In the five-month period, the environmental organization has repeatedly written a joint letter to Apple, hoping to establish a dialogue mechanism to discuss and promote the environmental issues of the supplier companies, and has not received any positive response from Apple.

Until the morning of August 31st, on the eve of the publication of “The Other Side of Apple 2”, Apple sent an email to the Public Environment Research Center. This e-mail from Apple's Supplier Responsibility Department stated that Apple will understand the environmental conditions of the relevant suppliers according to the contents of the report of the environmental protection organization. Apple is also willing to establish a dialogue mechanism with the environmental protection organizations and hopes to pass a private conference call. Communicate.

Compared with the previous environmental issues and solutions proposed by environmental protection organizations, Ma Jun believes this is a positive signal. The next step is how to stop the problem of pollution.

Well-known manufacturers

After 36 NGOs continuously issued reports that as many as 29 IT famous brand suppliers were polluted, most companies recognized the seriousness of the pollution and began to use public regulatory information to promote suppliers' awareness of environmental responsibility and control production and procurement. Pollution problems.

Siemens has developed a program that can automatically compare its supplier list with the company's regulatory records included in the Pollution Map database of the Public Environmental Research Center. Once suppliers found to have violated regulations, Siemens emailed these suppliers in the name of the chief executive officer and the chief procurement officer, asking them to quickly contact the environmental protection organization and publicize the corrective measures, otherwise it would be possible to lose the opportunity to cooperate with Siemens.

Nokia has established a supplier search mechanism. Including Nokia will seriously follow up on the existence of suppliers of environmental violations, and to promote its rectification; Nokia in the review of new suppliers, through the environmental protection organization "pollution map" database to check whether the new suppliers have violation records; in the annual review At this time, Nokia will check the supplier's environmental conditions through the database to determine the audit priorities.

Experts believe that brand owners are responsible for the production process

In the "Supplier Code of Conduct," Apple also has detailed regulations on the environmental impact of hazardous materials, solid waste, waste water, rainwater, and exhaust gas. However, the investigation found that Apple's suppliers frequently encountered environmental violations. The environmental protection organization believes that Apple’s commitment to ensuring the environmental responsibility of the production process in its “Supplier Code of Conduct” has become empty words. Ma Jun even stated that Apple’s involvement in the supply chain management Strictly, if something goes wrong, the responsibility is fully passed on to the supplier and there is suspicion of evading responsibility.

Guo Peiyuan, a Tsinghua University researcher who is engaged in research on corporate social responsibility, said that in the field of international corporate social responsibility, there are already some ideas concerning the responsibility of brand owners and they are called "producer's extended responsibility." “In fact, the producer here is not a production supplier like Ming-Hui Electronics. It is a branding company like Apple and Nokia. The responsibility of the brand business is extended, not just the flow of the business it controls.” Guo Pei-Yuan believes that Since the brand manufacturer has produced the product, it should be responsible for the entire production process of the product and ensure that certain toxic and harmful substances are not used in the production process. "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility will be. Apple has enough influence to influence its suppliers. It should assume these responsibilities." Guo Peiyuan said.

Since the brand manufacturer has produced the product, it should be responsible for the entire production process of the product and ensure that certain toxic and harmful substances are not used in the production process. The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. Apple has enough influence to influence its suppliers and it should assume these responsibilities.