Apple today filed its 2018 Conflict Minerals Report with the SEC as part of its commitment to supplier responsibility.

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Apple said it remains "deeply committed" to upholding human rights across its global network of suppliers and "works to safeguard the well-being of people involved in its supply chain and to protect the places where materials are sourced."

Apple commits to use minerals in its products that do not directly or indirectly finance armed conflict or benefit armed groups.

As of December 31, 2018—for the fourth straight year—100 percent of identified smelters and refiners in Apple's supply chain for all applicable products manufactured during calendar year 2018 participated in an independent third-party conflict minerals audit ("Third Party Audit") program for columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, gold, wolframite, or their derivatives, which presently are limited to tantalum, tin, and tungsten (collectively, "3TG").

In 2018, Apple directed its suppliers to remove from its supply chain five smelters and refiners not willing to participate in, or complete, a Third Party Audit or that did not otherwise meet Apple's requirements on the responsible sourcing of minerals. Of the 253 smelters and refiners of 3TG determined to be in Apple's supply chain as of December 31, 2018, Apple found no reasonable basis for concluding that any such smelter or refiner sourced 3TG that directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups.

In 2017, The Enough Project said Apple was the "clear leader" among companies around the world at developing efforts to source conflict-free minerals from suppliers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Top Rated Comments

az431 Avatar
67 months ago
Well it only took one post for this thread to go off the rails.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
centauratlas Avatar
67 months ago
First, how about (a) stop using glue and (b) stop soldering in RAM and non-upgradable CPUs, GPUs and SSDs in more of the computers?
Second, how about not obsoleting, for example, a 2011 MacBook Pro when it is still serviceable? Don't rush upgrades and keep updating macOS for the Macs for longer.

Less waste, more environmentally friendly.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vicviper789 Avatar
67 months ago
“We use only ethically mined carbon neutral vegan materials. Also, please toss out your old device into a landfill and buy a new one annually”
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigMcGuire Avatar
67 months ago
Ahh, the I see no evil crowd
All humans are flawed, even you. If you look you'll see corruption, greed, filth everywhere. It's what defines humanity. There is a reason why a lot of us buy Apple, they try to / make an effort to curb that. Yeah, are they perfect? Nope.

I like that Apple's data centers are renewable powered. Are they 100% renewable powered? Well, if you look at the fact that they still need to be powered overnight when renewables aren't being generated, yeah I could pick that out and claim it isn't 100%, but the fact is they do more than most companies.

That and they make hardware which lasts longer than most plastic phones I've had in the past, and they support their software a lot longer than most other mobile operating systems. My boss was using a 4s up until a few years ago. My mom and dad are happily using a 6 today.

Every iPhone I've purchased I've been able to sell back to Apple for it to be re-used. No phone has gone into a "landfill" - I could not do this with my android phones in the past.

Don't even get me started on my Macbooks. They lasted 2x longer than my Windows laptops, were easily more than 2x reliable, and I sold them back (after 3 years) for 50% of their value.

Well that didn’t take long. Even though Apple is an industry leader in divesting from conflict minerals, they’re imperfect so therefore they suck and deserve no recognition at all.

Gotta love MacRumors forums.
Agreed. It's so frigging popular to be negative, outraged, and down on Apple. Takes a lot less IQ and effort to tear something down, to criticize, than it does to build it up, see the positives, and improve it. Can't really blame them for taking the easy road I guess. I'm lazy as <blank> myself.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
67 months ago
Apple is not perfect but, they are trying. I applaud them for that.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mikerz Avatar
67 months ago
Yet Apple has no problem still using foxconn to make their iPhones, a company which has to have suicide prevention nets to catch despaired employees from killing themselves
Its a case of damned if you do, damned if you dont. They put that net there because there was a suicide and they wanted to prevent them in the future.

The rate of suicide at foxconn is actually significantly lower than in the society as a whole. People don’t realize how enormous foxconn is.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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