Big Bad Brand #6: Apple
Apple as a brand is a household name to many, with it being one of the top 10 brands in the world. Despite being a brand hailing from Los Angeles, almost half of the world’s iPhones are made at a sprawling Foxconn factory complex in Zhengzhou, China. Given that Foxconn in Zhengzhou produces up to 500,00 phones a day, it is no surprise that this sleek company with its clean finish is actually a huge contributor to the poor air quality in Zhengzhou, colloquially known as ‘iPhone City’.
Contrary to it’s clean branding and image, the production site of these phones are nothing like that. It is instead a hazy view with terrible air quality.
Air quality index (AQI) is a communication tool providing a publically accessible indication of air quality in terms of risk to health. In the iPhone City, analysts from Morgan Stanley noted that the city’s AQI shot up drastically and it is believed that this peak coincided with the ramp in iPhone 12 mass production (The Economic Times, 2020).
This city of six million people in a very impoverished part of China is largely owned by Apple’s manufacturing partner, Foxconn. This contrasts its commitment to 100 parent carbon neutral (Apple, 2020) as the pollutants are simply re-directed elsewhere such as the poorer regions of China.
A quick search of Zhengzhou’s Real-time AQI reveals that the air quality is generally unhealthy with high levels of PM 2.5. PM 2.5 refers to a category of particulate pollutant that is 2.5 micros or smaller in size and hence high levels of PM2.5 indicates a risk of nose and eyes issues as these particles can penetrate deep into your lungs and increase respiratory issues (Xing et al., 2016).
Beyond PM2.5, the production of our very beloved iPhone has historically led to a reduction in air quality in Zhengzhou and increasing levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air. According to EPA (2016), nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere can interact with other chemical in the atmosphere to form acid rain. This is known as a secondary pollutant and is more harmful than nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere itself.
Producing a single iPhone comes at an exorbitant environmental cost and pollution and essentially degrading the living environment for the people of Zhengzhou and also harming their health. Hence, is Apple really the clean company we really think as?
References
- Apple. (2020, July 21). Apple commits to be 100 percent carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030. Apple Newsroom (Singapore). https://www.apple.com/sg/newsroom/2020/07/apple-commits-to-be-100-percent-carbon-neutral-for-its-supply-chain-and-products-by-2030/
- The Economic Times. (2020, October 31). iPhone 12 production spoiling air quality in China: Report. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/iphone-12-production-spoiling-air-quality-in-china-report/articleshow/78960660.cms
- US EPA, O. (2016, July 6). Basic information about no2 [Overviews and Factsheets]. https://www.epa.gov/no2-pollution/basic-information-about-no2
- Xing, Y.-F., Xu, Y.-H., Shi, M.-H., & Lian, Y.-X. (2016). The impact of PM2.5 on the human respiratory system. Journal of Thoracic Disease, 8(1), E69–E74. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2016.01.19