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Apple Addresses Factory Pollution In China
redletterdave writes "Apple reportedly sent five employees to meet with five different Chinese environmental groups on Nov. 15, only to learn about several troubling environmental issues at as many as 22 different product parts suppliers. In the three-hour meeting, the Chinese environmentalist coalition claimed the factories were releasing toxic gasses, heavy metal sludge and other pollutants. Apple acknowledged that a number of its supply firms have failed to properly keep track of their wastewater emissions and vowed to improve its environmental standards for suppliers; this is the first time Apple has admitted any wrongdoing in relation to environmental pollution from any of its Chinese supply chains. The meeting comes one month after one of Apple's Chinese suppliers of MacBook parts was shut down by China's government in response to resident complaints of 'unbearable odors,' which were described as a mix of chemical fertilizer and burning plastic."
I'm not an apple fan, I like Linux. However all hardware manufacturers are guilty here not just apple.
To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
Apple reportedly sent five employees to meet with five different Chinese environmental groups on Nov. 15, only to learn about several troubling environmental issues at as many as 22 different product parts suppliers.
Huh, that's odd, it was back in September when Apple outright rejected these claims. Perhaps Apple is free to conduct investigations with the passing of a certain misanthrope?
My work here is dung.
Apple makes a big deal about how environmentally friendly their laptop lineup is. Maybe the non-environmentally friendly stuff just stays on the other side of the ocean, somewhere where we'll never hear about it.
"God does not play Minecraft with the world." - Albert Einstein
this is the first time Apple has admitted any wrongdoing in relation to environmental pollution from any of its Chinese supply chains
Blaming the user of the components (Apple) is virtually the same as blaming the end-user (consumers). It is NOT Apple's fault China has lax compliance.
I hate apple, but why is this apple's fault?
The residents were probably party officials.
He who has no
Based on the fracking issues, I'd say their response would be more along the lines of "you don't have any samples showing these 'unbearable odors' were not there before the company started, therefore you can't prove the company caused them. Also, even if you did somehow prove that they weren't already there, you still can't prove they're coming from the company because we won't let you find out what chemicals the company is using."
When you see 7,000 people camped outside a store for 2 days waiting to get their grubby little paws on the latest gadget (apple, android, pc, xbox, whatever) it's a clear sign that people have Too Much (tm).
When people have Too Much (excess) there is senseless waste. It's the waste which drives the demand which drives the pollution. It's not just China. It's not just Apple. It's manufacturers responding to a demand.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
this is the first time Apple has admitted any wrongdoing in relation to environmental pollution from any of its Chinese supply chains.
Thus is also the first time they've admitted that they will stop beating their wife. Even if Apple has some "wrongdoing" to admit at.least they are doing something unlike Dell, Logitech, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, AMD, Acer, Toshiba, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Cisco, Nintendo, Sony, Nokia, MSI, Vizio, Samsung, HTC, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc.(the list can go on) who have yet to admit their wrongdoings since they use the same suppliers.
Cripes, you go to all of the trouble to find the place with the loosest/most poorly enforced regulatory structure, and then suddenly the government pulls a bait and switch and starts caring about the massive toll all of it is having on the population. It's a real pain to go and find some new place where they don't care about their citizens. The modern world is a libertarian nightmare.
I read the internet for the articles.
My vote would be Gates was more ruthless. He absorbed and/or destroyed more small businesses than I could count. He lied in federal court. He used a monopoly to negatively manipulate markets. He would lose billions of dollars on a product just to undercut competition.
By contrast Jobs was an asshole and difficult to work with. This is an easy vote for me.
Developers: We can use your help.
You think that with all the positive stuff Apple has been doing lately that they must have have a change in upper management.
And I thought Apple's products were made of ORGANIC fertilizer...
"Due diligence"
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Serious question -- how did this even come to light? I thought China was completely hands-off with regards to their manufacturing industries. Isn't that (and the cheaper labor) the reason why companies choose to produce there in the first place? I guess someone didn't get paid enough and is calling in the authorities on this.
I'm sure Apple isn't too happy about this. If they're forced to use a supplier who pollutes less, that supplier is going to charge them more and shave more margin off those MacBooks they're making.
Or it would be, if they had, which they haven't.
Admitting that your suppliers have environmental problems is not the same as admitting wrongdoing, as I'm sure Apple's lawyers will be happy to remind you. That they have finally admitted that their _suppliers_ have a problem, and even made noises about improving their standards for suppliers, is a big step forward for Apple which they should get credit for. Its still a long cry from admitting that they did anything wrong, or - profit margins forbid! - offering to do anything about helping to clean up the mess.
Its not apples fault.. noo... it must be Microsoft, Bush and Obama's fault.
Whats wrong with good old fashioned pollution? You slash wussies.
If Apple are guilty of anything here, then so are the consumers of Apple products. And seeing as a large percentage of other products we buy from countless other manufacturers probably have parts manufactured in similar factories and in similar conditions, that makes pretty much all of us guilty.
You have an interesting definition of the word "slave."
Perhaps you'd like to share your dictionary?
Actually, Apple and other manufacturers are NOT responsible for their SUPPLIERS' mishaps.
Sure they are. Apple has almost certainly been sued for problems that are/were caused by their suppliers. Apple chooses who they want to do business with and as a result bears at least some responsibility for the actions of their suppliers. While it is unrealistic to expect Apple to be responsible for every action of their suppliers, they most definitely are responsible for some of them. The supplier and Apple share responsibility for the products they jointly create AND any by-products or problems they create as well.
In the U.S., the EPA would have been up their asses from years before the factory was even built and never let up. The regulatory red tape would be so thick that eventually the company would give up and move offshore to somewhere with less restrictions. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what they and everybody else has done. Move to China.
Cheap goods, jobs, or clean water. Which is it going to be?
Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
Now that Steve is gone, all those seemingly evil ways that made Apple great will fade away. The new guy will not match up to his prediccessor. Just like Microsoft.
... and Apple doesn't yet have a monopoly.
The post is clearly worded inaccurately, with an apparent bias against Apple. Rather than reading, "this is the first time Apple has admitted any wrongdoing in relation to environmental pollution from any of its Chinese supply chains," it should read, "this is the first time Apple has acknowledged any wrongdoing on the part of its Chinese suppliers in relation to environmental pollution."
I would also ask, is it really Apple's responsibility to keep an eye on Chinese companies? Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the Chinese government?
That would be my guess, or family of party officials or a magistrate. Otherwise they wouldn't care.
Om, nomnomnom...
Latest version he says "Siri smoke", but I know there's an older version out there somewhere...
they would manufacture their shit here in the US where we have laws against this. They don't care, that's why all the manufacturing is done in China, where the govt doesn't give a shit about the environment. They probably figure once they've fucked up their own country, they can just use all the American debt to buy unpolluted land in Cali, Hawaii, and any other state they think is nice.
21st Century Renaissance Man
in the USA by union labor.
http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2011_Progress_Report.pdf
http://www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/
Too many of those who blog about Apple continue to complain about the cost of Apple products. But if you want Apple to use clean suppliers that its competitors do not, then the prices will go up.
Fundamentally it is about the Chinese government putting in place the correct level of environmental protection laws (enforcement does not seem to be a problem in China btw). Instead they are too interested in cornering the manufacturing market and becoming the No.1 world economic power - the environment is nothing to them. Historically the Chinese government/rulers have never concerned about the provinces so long as they produce money - nothings changed.
Yes Apple and CCP cadre working at Apple meet outside NGO CCP cadre for a talk about media control...
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The only thing we feel entitled to is the fruits of our own labor.
The Apple reps at one monent of indecision scurried off to the back corner the building to shit and vomit like crazy.
Then, the local "containment crew" arrives to use pick-ax, shovels to mix the soil with the ... ah hem ... ingredients.
Then a final crew come with kerocene flame throwers and burns the "containment area" soils to a crisp.
So what does that say about what the Chinks think about the Crakers.
)9)
First thing I'll point out, which anyone involved in education will tell you, is that teachers are an entirely different group than "an overgrown and overpaid administration apparatus." Often the two groups are greatly opposed to each other. In fact, teachers unions exist to protect teachers from this administration, not to obtain undue rewards from everyone else.
I'm willing to accept that some people may abuse the system, but I've never heard of someone get rich off of teaching. My general impression is that teachers get paid less than those with similar investment in acquired skills in the private sector (a bachelor's degree and some certification, plus a master's degree in most circumstances), and that nobody in their right mind becomes a teacher in the hope of exploiting some non-existant get rich quick scheme.
If teacher's unions did not exist, the most likely thing to happen would be little to no job security. It's already that way in the California university system; university administrators try to avert unions by refusing to hire full-time tenure track positions, instead hiring a slew of part-time lecturers who often have to waste lots of gas going to multiple universities for enough work. I'll admit there are budget problems in California, but the unions are standing with students against tuition increases and the cuts are actually coming from the state, not from those administrators. It's a tough situation but I think it's fair to ask that nobody's life be made worse than it was when progress is supposed to go forward.
Of course, the #1 reason unions exist is to prevent sweat shop conditions. We forget, but that's how factories used to operate in the US before unionization (late 1800s). Everyone should read up on the Gilded Age and various mining corporations and commodity monopolies.
I'll admit there are sometimes problems with unions because they generally don't know or care about budgetary constraints and argue only for the worker's interests. I heard of some caribbean nation where the companies and unions worked together in good faith, sharing accounting information in a fashion not generally allowed in the US. They were able to come to happy compromises because the unions were then able to understand the situation and even suggest what the workers could sacrifice in exchange for their other priorities. I think that the interests of everyone are best served when the workers can form a union, and when both the union and the management respect each other and are willing to compromise.
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.