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Does Philips care about the environment in China?
Last year I upgraded my Philips electric shaver with a newer model from the same brand. Subsequently, my old shaver has been sitting in my bedroom for over a year. Like a convicted prisoner on death row, my old shaver has been waiting to be disposed of. I could have tossed the shaver out with the rubbish, but the manual clearly stated that the shaver’s battery was toxic and needed to be disposed of properly. Unfortunately, I have no idea about the location of used battery depots in Beijing, so I procrastinated for over a year.
I finally gave the Philips Service Centre a call yesterday to inquire about the safe disposal of batteries sold by the company. The service centre offered an English-speaking service, which I thought would be more convenient. However, after waiting for five minutes, no one answered my call. I then rang back and chose the Chinese-speaking service, and my call was answered within seconds. The xiaojie who answered gave me the number of a Philips battery repair centre that was near my apartment in Beijing. I then rang that centre and they told me that they could not safely dispose of my shaver.
Considering that China cops a lot of flak over the environment, I believe that this issue is worth writing about. Here is a multinational company that apart from not helping customers safely dispose of used batteries, doesn’t even give advice about the nearest used battery depot. If a company clearly writes on its product’s manual that customers cannot carelessly dispose of batteries, then it should ensure that customers know where to safely dispose the batteries.
I am sure that China has used battery depots – I can remember that my old Chinese university used to collect used batteries on the first level of the foreign students dormitory. However, people shouldn’t need to work hard to be environmentally friendly. When I searched for Beijing’s used battery depots on Google, I couldn’t find any useful information. Eventually, I was forced to give my old shaver to the local rubbish collector. Hopefully he will safely dispose of the shaver, but this unfortunately is riding on a whim and a prayer. Philips should ensure that the toxic batteries used in their products are disposed of properly, thus providing an example to the Chinese companies that are often criticised in the Western media. |
Posted: 12:04 PM, 23/12/2007 in ChinaShare on Facebook |
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