Ideaplants

Among the companies least responsive to working with the Green Choice Alliance is Apple Computer, Inc. “Apple’s supplier base is the most difficult for us to figure out; they manage that in a highly secretive way — they never talk about who are their suppliers,” says Ma. “I think Apple probably has two faces: In America, it’s a very green friendly company, but in China, when it comes to its secret supply chain management, it’s a totally different thing.”

Because Apple treats its supply chain as privileged corporate information, it is difficult to trace factories it uses. Yet anecdotal information indicates problems: In October, a reporter from the Australian Broadcast Company visited the Number Five People’s Hospital in Suzhou and spoke with former workers in a plant that manufactured products for Apple. The workers said they had been made very ill, even unable to walk, after being exposed to a The long-term battle is about building a system in China that is more transparent and open. toxic chemical, n-hexane, in a compound used to wipe down touch-screens of iPhones.

A representative from Apple’s corporate communications office said in a voicemail that Apple is committed to responsible supply-chain management and referred me to Apple’s “Supplier Responsibility, 2010 Progress Report.” The document, posted online, sets forth the objective that “companies we do business with must provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.”

Ma’s contention is that companies, including Apple, can better ensure that the reality on the factory floor matches their lofty mission statements through more transparent oversight processes. “Apple by itself cannot overcome such great challenges,” he says. “We cannot trust it can do it without participation from other stakeholders.”