Apple recently released its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, which summarizes 633 supply chain audits completed in 2014, covering more than 1.6 million supply chain workers in 19 countries and regions. The number of supply chain audits increased by 40% compared to 2013.
The Supplier Responsibility Progress Report details Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct and discloses the results of supply chain audits based on the code. It reveals that 15 factories were shut down for serious violations of Apple's guidelines.
Of the factories that were shut down, three were due to repeated violations of environmental regulations or failure to provide formally approved Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) on multiple occasions. Suppliers must obtain new approval from local environmental authorities for their EIA reports before they can resume operations.
Five factories were shut down for directly emitting untreated exhaust gases into the atmosphere. Apple stated in its report that these manufacturers subsequently installed exhaust gas filtration equipment and implemented exhaust gas treatment regulatory procedures to ensure that the air quality of their emissions met the requirements of environmental authorities.
The other seven factories were found to have discharged untreated wastewater into storm drains and sewage treatment systems. These factories must install wastewater collection and treatment systems if they are to resume operations.
Other environmental audit results include the following:
– 11 factories were found to be using restricted chemicals. Apple has demanded that the manufacturers immediately cease using these harmful substances and replace them with safer chemicals. None of these 11 manufacturers are final assembly plants.
Factory 83 lacked secondary protection for hazardous chemicals, and Factory 71's secondary protection was incomplete. Remedial measures included implementing proper protection.
Factory 134 lacks or has inadequate exhaust emission monitoring equipment. Apple requires these manufacturers to purchase equipment or services from qualified exhaust emission monitoring providers and to ensure that their exhaust treatment equipment is up-to-date.
Factory 34 was unable to provide an EIA report, and Factory 48 did not have a formally approved EIA report.
The 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report also highlighted Apple's environmental progress in 2014, including:
– Promote the Clean Water Program to the top 200 suppliers in the supply chain to improve water utilization and recycling rates, with the goal of covering 50% of the supply chain's water consumption.
– Assisted 13 suppliers in achieving a saving of 500 million gallons of freshwater resources.
– 392 supply chain employees have received training at Apple’s Environment Health and Safety Academy, and since the academy’s inception, more than 900,000 supply chain employees have benefited.
For detailed information on the 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, please refer to the attached document: Apple_Progress_Report_2015 (English).
Sources:Environmental Leader (2015-02-18) (Compiled by PIDC) Attachment file:Apple_Progress_Report_2015.pdf
