New report finds U.S. home improvement giant Home Depot sourced vinyl flooring products from forced labor. -- China News update 6.17.22
Update
What happened.
Laura T. Murphy, Jim Vallette, and Nyrola Elimä released a report detailing their findings from an investigation into “the increased manufacturing of PVC in the Uyghur Region, the manufacturers’ use of state-sponsored labor transfers, the environmental damage this manufacturing is causing, and the routes by which the resulting PVC-based products may make their way into international markets.” The researchers’ investigation was part of a collaboration between the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and Material Research, a charitable and educational company based in Maine, USA.
Murphy, Vallette, & Elimä, “Built on Repression,” June 2022:
This PVC is being shipped internationally to serve as the base material for a wide variety of products, the most prevalent of which is luxury flooring. Many people building or remodeling homes in the U.S. would likely be surprised to learn the following:
• XUAR-manufactured PVC is so inexpensive, it has become the most common material of all floors sold in the United States.
• PVC flooring resins made in China are present in more than one-quarter of all flooring sold in the U.S. The XUAR produces the lion’s share of PVC resins used in that flooring.
• PVC flooring shipments from China to the U.S. increased by 300% in the last several years.
• PVC made by Xinjiang Zhongtai is shipped directly to Vietnamese flooring manufacturer Jufeng New Materials, which then ships luxury PVC-based flooring to the top U.S. flooring brands sold in major home improvement outlets and online. Brands selling flooring at very high risk of Xinjiang inputs include Home Legend for Home Depot, Armstrong, Mannington Mills, Mohawk, Lumber Liquidators, Congoleum, and many others.
• Zhongtai is a primary supplier of PVC to Zhejiang Tianzhen, which is a major Chinese flooring manufacturer and also a parent company of Vietnam’s Jufeng New Materials, presenting a potential opportunity for transshipment of XUAR-made PVC and PVC-based flooring that should be monitored.
• Zhongtai’s PVC is also highly likely being used in the production of PVC piping, which is then shipped to distributors across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the U.K., and South and Central America.
Emphasis added.
Why it matters.
Proliferation of flooring products sourced from entities linked to forced labor
Worker Rights Consortium Executive Director Scott Nova told The Intercept that “[t]he report is ‘very significant’” and “has major implications for the retailers and marketers of flooring.” “There are a lot of people walking around their homes right now on floors that are virtually certain to be made in part with forced labor,” he said.
The Intercept:
Fully 10 percent of global PVC comes from the Uyghur region, the majority of it from Zhongtai. From Xinjiang, Zhongtai’s PVC resin is transported to eastern China, India, and Vietnam, where it is turned into flooring before being exported to the U.S. and other parts of the world. PVC is also used to make everyday products like shower curtains and credit cards; the Sheffield Hallam and Material Research team says it is likely that Zhongtai plastics are used to make PVC piping for global buyers.
Uyghurs allegedly exposed to known carcinogens and other toxic chemicals
“Researchers, customs officials, and journalists have previously documented a disturbing array of products linked to Uyghur forced labor, including surgical masks, laptops, cotton, solar panels, and wigs,” The Intercept said. “But PVC flooring adds another dimension: severe health and environmental effects,” the news agency added.
The Intercept:
The report details how workers involved in its production breathe in several toxic substances, including carcinogens, and how massive amounts of climate pollutants are released in the process of creating plastic resin for flooring.
The report highlights gross failures in due diligence and supply chain monitoring
A Home Depot spokesperson told The Intercept by email that “[t]he Home Deport prohibits the use of forced or prison labor in its supply chain,” and that the issue is one “we take very seriously.”
But China Boss would like to note that the International Labor Organization adopted a resolution that condemned the use of forced labour throughout the world in 1957, and that - even though the U.S. didn’t approve the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act until December 2021, there was much public debate in Congress, as well as allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang that had been front and center in mainstream headlines for several years prior. In other words, there was plenty to put Home Depot’s board of directors on notice and enough time to initiate due diligence checks to address potential reputational and regulatory risks. But waiting until the firm is called out for funding Beijing’s repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang makes company executives appear more or less complicit in the use of forced labor in the store’s supply chains and as if one of America’s favorite home improvement brands couldn’t care less.
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Have a great week.