Apple has been in talks for the first time with environmental organizations that have been pressuring the company to address pollution problems in its supply chains.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs who was leading the campaign pressuring Apple for more transparency, said that he has had preliminary discussions with Apple chiefs regarding pollution concerns in China and that representatives of an NGO coalition may visit the United States for formal talks in early November.

Several environmental groups released a report, "The Other Side of Apple 2," in August, alleging serious pollution by Apple's Chinese suppliers. Ma was one of the co-authors of the report.

The environmental organizations say they detected heavy metals, including copper and nickel, in water coming from a Meiko Electronics (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. plant, an Apple supplier in Hubei Province, in their report.

The report also says that sediment samples taken from near the supplier's plant contain from 56 to 193 times the amount of copper found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where much sewage is eventually discharged.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.