Apple Addresses Factory Pollution In China 190
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."
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not an apple fan, I like Linux. However all hardware manufacturers are guilty here not just apple.
Actually, Apple and other manufacturers are NOT responsible for their SUPPLIERS' mishaps.
Article is Troll (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
but
they can choose to use suppliers who do not pollute, and people can decide not to shop with a company that uses suppliers who pollute. slightly different but in the same vein, look at the nike sweatshop issue for proof that shoppers do care about the conditions that suppliers work
Re:Article is Troll (Score:3, Insightful)
It is Apple's fault for hiring companies in China knowing that they do massive polluting. It's not like its a big secret that China does massive polluting with their industrial sector.
Re:Article is Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd argue that the end-users are at fault just as much. It's hardly been a secret that the iphone you buy was manufactured by smog factories and assembled by slave labor.
Re:Article is Troll (Score:4, Insightful)
Bullshit. They knew that China's environmental regulations are a joke, and they still chose to have their hardware manufactured there. The pollution must be REALLY bad if the Chinese govt is actually doing something about it.
they also stopped beating their wife (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Consumers just as guilty (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:they also stopped beating their wife (Score:5, Insightful)
Thanks for proving my point. This is nothing but Apple bashing since countless multibillion dollar multinationals use the same suppliers yet all the bad things these suppliers do are somehow Apple's fault alone.
Re:Article is Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
Can you find a computer company that doesn't use parts from China? Doubtful.
Re:Keep this up and they'll have to move again (Score:5, Insightful)
Passively they do.
Libertarian ideology is such that a company could produce something that nearly ablates the world of mammals (including humans), and those who live through it are supposed to not buy the product and thus the market kills the company.
Libertarian ideology does not apply in a world where the damage a company an do may take years or decades to accrue (like BPA, hormone interference, long term environmental abuse) and the market response required to make sense would be 'immediate'.
Regulations are necessary because we don't want serious damage to happen BEFORE the market responds. We want to prevent the serious damage with the best scientific understandings of safety we have, and let the market respond to the products that come from our best knowledge of safe practices.
Re:Article is Troll (Score:5, Insightful)
It is Apple's fault for hiring companies in China knowing that they do massive polluting.
That argument would be a LOT stronger if Apple wasn't the sole company being taken to task for it.
.
Re:Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, Apple and other manufacturers are NOT responsible for their SUPPLIERS' mishaps.
Anyone who is able to improve things and opts not to is responsible.
Responsibility for the supply chain (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
The real problem is the macroeconomics of the matter. Jobs' built state of the art factories for both the original Mac and NeXT [cnn.com] in the US. Both failed to return on their investment. At least Apple cares enough, wether it's due to concern for their image or genuine concern, to investigate and ameliorate conditions where possible. Most companies don't.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you kidding? Dell and HP make a third of all PCs (and half of the ones sold in the US, where Apple's share is peaking at 15%). And they (along with ASUS) are some of FoxConn's biggest customers. They surely have as much pull as Apple, but they don't use it, do they?
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, yes they are, he's wrong.
That contradicts what you said before. Because if they don't choose good suppliers, they're effectively condoning and supporting bad ones.
Obligatory car analogy: If you get food poisoning at a restaurant, it's the restaurant who is liable, not the shithead who sold them defrosted prawns as fresh ones. Or should I say directly liable, i.e. to you; should you sue the restaurant, they can probably charge the vendor in turn.
In short: you're responsible to your customers for consequences caused by any and all subcontractors/suppliers you choose. And this makes 100% sense - if you weren't, you could get away with all kinds of scams using shell/sockpuppet companies. And that's reserved for Wall Street [dradadaTISH]
Re:Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe im getting tired of people trying to make every single discussion about Occupy Wall street, whether it be Windows new bootloader flaws, or Syrian protests, or Apple's manufacturing policies.
Guess what, there are other current events out there, the whole world doesnt revolve around OWS. Im sure there are websites you can go to [occupywallst.org] if youre really that desperate to talk about OWS.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, Apple and other manufacturers are NOT responsible for their SUPPLIERS' mishaps.
Anyone who is able to improve things and opts not to is responsible.
So it's your fault. You could take your entire net worth, liquidate it and go to China and help clean up the pollution yourself.