iPhone maker orders pollution cleanup
By Xu Chi |
November 17, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
APPLE has ordered 15 of its suppliers in China to clean up their act and reduce pollution, Chinese environmental protection groups said yesterday following negotiations with the US company.
Representatives of Apple and five Chinese non-government environmental groups met in Beijing on Tuesday with the company officially responding for the first time to claims its suppliers were guilty of pollution.
The three-hour talks took place after the groups released a report claiming pollution had been "expanding and spreading" throughout Apple's supply chain in China.
In the report, "The Other Side of Apple II - Pollution Spreads through Apple's Supply Chain," they accused the company of abetting pollution after it found that 22 of Apple's suppliers had environmental problems.
Apple's representatives told the meeting that the suppliers listed in the report had been checked and 15 had records of breaching pollution regulations, said Wang Jingjing, an official with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, one of the groups behind the report.
The company ordered the 15 suppliers to work out plans to reduce pollution and 11 begun to do so.
One of them even said that it had invested more 100 million yuan in pollution control, Wang said.
The company also promised it would supervise the operation of the 15 firms to see the result of their improvement plans, Wang said.
Wang said Apple claimed the other seven suppliers in the report had nothing to do with the company but it refused to name its suppliers, saying the names were "business secrets."
The groups said this was a matter of concern as without that information it would be hard for them to monitor whether the improvement plans had been carried out.
"The pollution from some of the suppliers has already disturbed or harmed residents living nearby so the victims have the right to know the names of the suppliers to see whether they have improved or not," said Wang. "Public supervision cannot be carried out well without the information being made public."
However, Wang told reporters that the groups did appreciate that Apple had "taken the first step" in changing the pollution situation since some 30 Chinese groups had begun contacting the company in April last year after they published several reports on pollutants emitted by Apple suppliers.
In January, the environmental groups published a report, "The Other Side of Apple," which highlighted pollution and poisoning in Apple's supply chain, including a factory in Suzhou where 137 workers had suffered from poisoning.
Representatives of Apple and five Chinese non-government environmental groups met in Beijing on Tuesday with the company officially responding for the first time to claims its suppliers were guilty of pollution.
The three-hour talks took place after the groups released a report claiming pollution had been "expanding and spreading" throughout Apple's supply chain in China.
In the report, "The Other Side of Apple II - Pollution Spreads through Apple's Supply Chain," they accused the company of abetting pollution after it found that 22 of Apple's suppliers had environmental problems.
Apple's representatives told the meeting that the suppliers listed in the report had been checked and 15 had records of breaching pollution regulations, said Wang Jingjing, an official with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, one of the groups behind the report.
The company ordered the 15 suppliers to work out plans to reduce pollution and 11 begun to do so.
One of them even said that it had invested more 100 million yuan in pollution control, Wang said.
The company also promised it would supervise the operation of the 15 firms to see the result of their improvement plans, Wang said.
Wang said Apple claimed the other seven suppliers in the report had nothing to do with the company but it refused to name its suppliers, saying the names were "business secrets."
The groups said this was a matter of concern as without that information it would be hard for them to monitor whether the improvement plans had been carried out.
"The pollution from some of the suppliers has already disturbed or harmed residents living nearby so the victims have the right to know the names of the suppliers to see whether they have improved or not," said Wang. "Public supervision cannot be carried out well without the information being made public."
However, Wang told reporters that the groups did appreciate that Apple had "taken the first step" in changing the pollution situation since some 30 Chinese groups had begun contacting the company in April last year after they published several reports on pollutants emitted by Apple suppliers.
In January, the environmental groups published a report, "The Other Side of Apple," which highlighted pollution and poisoning in Apple's supply chain, including a factory in Suzhou where 137 workers had suffered from poisoning.
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