Apple today provided fans with an update on its environment efforts in China, and as you might expect, the Cupertino company is still king of being green. It has also persuaded one local supplier to commit to using 100% renewable energy.
Haters might argue that some of Apple’s products (iPhone) are falling behind, but there’s no doubt the company is way ahead of the competition when it comes to being environmentally friendly and making the world a better place.
In China, all 14 of Apple’s final assembly sites in are now compliant with UL’s Zero Waste to Landfill validation. That means all of their manufacturing waste is reused, recycled, composted, or converted into energy where necessary.
Since the UL program began in January 2015, these sites have diverted more than 140,000 metric tons of waste from landfills, Apple says. And that’s not all.
Apple today announced that Lens Technology, which manufactures glass, will use 100% renewable energy for all of its Apple operations by the end of 2018. Lens is the first supplier to make this commitment, but Apple hopes others will follow suit.
“We want to show the world that you can manufacture responsibly and we’re working alongside our suppliers to help them lower their environmental impact in China,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives.
“We congratulate Lens for their bold step, and hope by sharing the lessons we’ve learned in our transition to renewable energy, our suppliers will continue to access clean power projects, moving China closer to its green manufacturing goals.”
Lens currently uses two facilities in Changsha, Hunan province for Apple. Wind energy will cover 100 percent of the energy consumed producing Apple products at Lens facilities, avoiding nearly 450,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Apple also has plans to partner with suppliers in China to install more than 2 Gaga watts of new clean energy in the coming years, with Foxconn already committed to installing 400 megawatts of solar, starting in Henan province by 2018.
