BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

In 2011, a Chinese environmental group accused Apple and the company's Chinese suppliers of discharging polluted waste and toxic metals into surrounding communities and threatening public health. The group, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, released a forty-six-page report documenting what it said was pollution from the dozens of "suspected" Apple suppliers throughout China.

The report, which the group said was based on visits to many of the factories' regions, said that factories that the group suspected were Apple suppliers often "fail to properly dispose of hazardous waste" and that twenty-seven of the suppliers had been found to have environmental problems. Also, earlier in 2011, Apple acknowledged that 137 workers at a Chinese factory near the city of Suzhou had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the signature slick glass screens of the iPhone.

An Apple spokesman said that the company had been aggressively monitoring factories in its supply chain with regular audits.

"Apple is committed to driving the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply chain. We require that our supplier provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made".

Supply chain experts say brand-name companies generally do a better job of monitoring and auditing their supply chain than smaller companies in China. But most experts agree that while conditions have improved at many work sites, labor violations and the discharge of toxic waste continue to be major problems.