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Apple Is Now Forcing Its Suppliers to Go 'Green' (afr.com)
Apple is already running on 100% green energy, according to Fast Company. But Apple is still "keen to show it's a good corporate citizen," reports the Australian Financial Review:
Apple's annual supplier responsibility report released on Thursday revealed 20 manufacturing supplier facilities had been removed from the company's supply chain for breaches of environmental permits or workplace rules. "Smelters and refiners deeper in our supply chain are held to similar standards and if they exhibit a lack of commitment to meet our supplier code of conduct, they risk losing Apple's business," the report said...
In 2018, Apple completed 770 audits of its supplier manufacturing facilities, logistics and repair centres and contact centre facilities. There were also 279 third-party mineral smelter and refiner audits conducted... Apple's 13th annual supplier responsibility progress report said all final assembly points for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod, were now certified zero waste to landfill, while conserving billions of litres of water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Apple's suppliers in 45 countries have diverted 1 million tonnes of garbage in three years, saved 28.7 gigalitres of water and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 466,000 annualised metric tons, which is the equivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road for one year.
In 2018, Apple completed 770 audits of its supplier manufacturing facilities, logistics and repair centres and contact centre facilities. There were also 279 third-party mineral smelter and refiner audits conducted... Apple's 13th annual supplier responsibility progress report said all final assembly points for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod, were now certified zero waste to landfill, while conserving billions of litres of water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Apple's suppliers in 45 countries have diverted 1 million tonnes of garbage in three years, saved 28.7 gigalitres of water and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 466,000 annualised metric tons, which is the equivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road for one year.
Having to replace a bunch of parts and drop $700 because a MacBook Pro's butterfly keyboard broke isn't green, Apple. These things have embodied energy, implicit in their manufacture. They're not disposable.
And the savings gets passed on to the consumer!
They're simply not doing business with someone anymore. That someone can continue to operate their processes any way they wish.
I hope more people see past Apple's sleight of hand here. They design their devices in such a way that makes it very difficult (or impossible) to repair, and it's usually just cheaper to replace it out of warranty since they charge exorbitant prices to due so and don't authorize third-party repair. E-waste is a real thing, but they completely ignore this because "green electricity" is easier to get a headline for and doesn't affect their bottom line.
It's cool that Apple is hip to the latest in greenness. When will they make laptops with decent keyboards again? Now that they're clearly caring about the environment, when will they care about consumers?
What about producing upgradeable equipment that lasts for years like they used to do? I'm writing this on my mid-2012 MacBook Pro, with easily upgradeable RAM and hard drive; its predecessor, a 2008 MacBook, had special bays for replacing those components. If I get a new MacBook, I'm stuck with a soldered monolith that I'll have to throw away in order to upgrade. Wouldn't it be greener to make computers upgradeable, so that they last longer (like my seven year old MacBook Pro)?
I absolutely love my MacBook Pro, and I have extra cash to buy myself something nice. It won't be a consumer-grade toy with a shitty keyboard and a useless "touchbar." And, frankly, I don't care where the Chinese got the electricity to make the hardware as much as I care about having a product of the level of quality that existed before Tim Cook reversed Jobs' micromanaging obsession with quality.
Not because it's sensible if you want humanity to live on.
That would be empathy.
And that has no place in the world of psychopath capitalism.
Iâ(TM)ve been a long time Android user and was dismayed by all the manufacturer environmental records. Apple rate along side the Fairphone (https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/reports/greener-electronics-2017/) on Greenpeaceâ(TM)s guide to green electronics. Apple is definitely not a perfect corporate citizen, but there are some things they are doing much better than the rest.
Apple could do more toward their own goal by easing up a little bit and using those resources to create a cheaper low end model of the phone. Have people buy a 95% purity-test phone instead of whatever Xiaomi or OnePlus are selling.
No amount of effort will get environmental zealots' approval anyway.
Last time I checked, they still had nets installed below the windows because conditions are so horrid that you want to kill yourself. And they assemble all the Apple jewelry too.
Because even they understand how it is forcing if there is no real other option.
Apple is too big a part of the total business of those companies. They can "choose" to not oblige, and go bankrupt. Even you should have the residual empathy and comprehension, to get why that is not a choice.
Not saying they aren't monsters, for ruining the planet we need to survive (which is indirect aiding of mass-genocide), and for abusing the workers, by the way.
Apple's a good example of corporatism, because they literally invented a tax dodging system whose name sounds like one of those made-up degrading sex acts. ("Double Irish With A Dutch Sandwich" sounds like you take two shots of whiskey, then slap two prostitutes with your penis at the same time.) But they're not a good example of being a good citizen, for the same reason.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
in the garden. He likes to watch TV.
Apple isn't saving the planet with glued in batteries, bad screen cables that require replacing the screen not just the cable, soldered in storage or keyboards that fail early. How about iPhone's they have their own set on non upgradable or repairable issues. Apple's only green dedication is taking more green money from stupid Apple fans.
Just marketing words to make uninformed people feel better.
Everything costs to make and making things out of "green" things is not automatically greener. I had the same complaint about Incandescent vs LED bulbs. What is involved in each one? Most people just talk about the run time. Check out the worlds longest burning bulb.
https://www.popularmechanics.c...
LED's are made of plastic and plastic is a hydrocarbon, and they break down and expire and will go into land fills too. Most of them are engineered to only barely meet the very weak regulatory requirements to be energy efficient. Apple is no more green or honest than De Beers and blood diamonds.
The only objective with announcements like this are to win brownie points and nothing else. Apple can require whatever they want, their suppliers will just put on enough of a facade to look green so Apple can say they are green because there is a shiny new badge saying its green... green or not. Kinda like how Monsanto keeps staying in business under different names despite the destruction they have wrought aided entirely by regulatory agencies that claim to be there to protect us.
Any yes, people are dumb enough to believe it, you can most definitely fool most of the people most of the time. If you use the internet and do not see that one basic truth then you are part of that unfortunate majority.
They are green with envy. And that is all the green they will ever be.
... full PC. ;)
Being angry at someone because he likes his laptop.
Don't get distracted by there accidentially being a computer in there. The client won't get any access to it. It is just used to implement a bunch of fixed-function bedazzling modules.
For sustainable planetary domination by humans.
All it does is force other consumers to move away from using green energy (switch to fossil fuels), because you are now using the green energy they used to use. e.g. Everyone used to use 20% green energy, 80% fossil fuels. Some company decides to buy up all 20% green energy for its own use so it can claim its energy consumption is 100% green. That forces everyone else to use 100% fossil fuel energy. And the net result is... 20% green energy, 80% fossil fuels - exactly the same as before this pointless gesture.
To truly increase the fraction of energy derived from green sources, you have to change the supply end of power generation. That means adding new green power sources, and shutting down fossil fuel plants.
I'm from Luxemburg. The "ou" spelling is the French one. Our government loves French. But our language is of Germanic origin. Just like yours. So the officials write "Luxembourg", but every sane person here writes " Luxemburg" for germanic languages.
Oh, and in out own language it's "Letzebuerg" with two dots above the first "e", and it's not possible to write the pronounciation down in English.
'Going Green' from a company that has Foxconn as a working partner.
You do remember Foxconn, the company that thinks the solution to 'employees' committing suicide by leaping out windows is to install catch nets underneath said windows.
I think Apple has a bigger problem that suppliers that are not 'Green.'
But will they require their suppliers to also respect human rights and reasonable labor standards?
E-waste is a real thing, but they completely ignore this
How on earth can you claim this?
Not only does Apple accept every product for free for recycling or resale (they will give you some credit if they can sell it again), Apple also carefully recycles each item themselves to extract as much material as possible.
In fact Apple has gone so far (in a keynote last year) as to say a stated goal is to eliminate the need for raw materials, and get all of the material they need for new devices from recycled ones!
Apple is the model for how all companies should behave with regards to e-waste.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What else could you expect from such a hypocritical company.
tossing imacs with completely functional screens because the computer is out of date.we do that a lot at work. good pc screens can last 10 years and even if you think the colours are getting suspect they can be used by the admin staff.
add to this non upgradability and FUCKING RIDICULOUS PRICES FOR UPGRADES from the base cost for what you might/will need in about 4 years time makes this even more prevalent.
and then stop supporting your computer with OS upgrades.
i work at a university and have to deal with this shit at a grand scale.
fuck apple.
and make lots of money by preventing people from repairing or upgrading their phones. More bullshit feel-good pretenses to appear as an environmentally responsible company.
Betcha the higher ups at (Cr)apple still drive/ride in limos, SUV's, take private jet trips, live in huge McMansions. Do as I say, not as I do.
It's going to force its suppliers to spend millions virtual signaling and pollute twice as much in the process!
so you read guidelines for a green company from the mi6, i mean green peace
good goy! high five!
If Apple was so concerned about what plastic is doing to the environment, perhaps it should make a phone that isn’t made of glass doesn’t require a thick plastic case for the vast majority of users. Apple has singlehandedly created and continues to fuel a massive market of third-party iPhone case makers, many of whom have much lower environmental standards and concerns that Apple alleges to possess. Apple’s self-righteous claims as a green company are overshadowed by the mess that it creates to support its ill-conceived product design.