Michelin China Reproached for Environmental Standards

China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has reproached one of Michelin’s factories, the Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Company, for failing to alter its activities after violating environmental regulations. In 2006 SEPA accused the tyremaker, who entered the Chinese market in 1998, of failing to follow relevant eco-friendly regulations in China, and now SEPA says Michelin has failed to reach the required manufacturing and waste standards.

A representative from the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau says that they have been supervising Shanghai Michelin Warrior and urging the company to change its habits, but she says the company failed to pass the most recent assessment.

As yet Michelin (China) Tire Company hasn’t responded publicly. But Pan Yue, deputy director of SEPA, claims that Shanghai Michelin Warrior has still not made any discernable progress.

The speculation amongst local media is that, because profit margins for tyre companies in operating in China are so slim, operators such as Shanghai Michelin Warrior sometimes cut costs in order to increase their bottom lines.