There’s a plain white building in West Java, Indonesia, where workers meticulously assemble batteries for Fujitsu, a Tokyo-based technology company and covert supplier for AmazonBasics. Unlike Amazon’s distribution centers, which are emblazoned with its black-and-orange logo, nothing outwardly betrays that a popular AmazonBasics item is made here.

Technically, Fujitsu’s subsidiary FDK runs the alkaline factory. You’ll find it in the West Javanese city of Bekasi, one of Indonesia’s liveliest industrial centers. I decided to call the subsidiary after stumbling across a review for the AmazonBasics batteries that mentioned, without elaborating, that they appeared to be “manufactured by Fujitsu.”

An FDK employee confirmed to OneZero that AmazonBasics is an authorized distributor of its batteries and per their agreement is required to buy at least $100,000 of its product annually.

Amazon later confirmed to OneZero that FDK is one of the companies that works with AmazonBasics.

The Fujitsu building in West Java, Indonesia. Photo: Google Maps

Fujitsu is one of the world’s oldest information technology companies, founded in 1935 in prewar Japan, with its roots in one of the country’s industrial zaibatsu, or family-owned business monopolies. The company went on to create Japan’s first homegrown computer and today boasts a global retail empire of hardware, software, and personal gadgets. In 1989, FDK expanded into Indonesia as FDK-Intercallin, eventually opening a production plant there — becoming the sole maker of Fujitsu alkaline batteries outside of Japan.

According to historians, Japan is revered for perfecting the modern battery’s secret sauce: a finicky black powder called electrolytic manganese dioxide that helps to cycle energy through the device.

“The Japanese were early in figuring out how to manufacture electrolytic manganese dioxide,” said Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College. The product had always required pristine manganese dioxide, a compound that was difficult to mine without impurities. “But around World War II, they figured out how to manufacture a pure form of it that’s better than the natural stuff.”

All the experts OneZero spoke to said that Indonesia, a nation of 264 million people, is not a huge player in the battery industry, which has long been dominated by countries like China, Japan, and Korea. Amazon’s investment in a Southeast Asian market, therefore, is peculiar.

“If anything, Amazon should have greater control over its AmazonBasics supply chain… The fact that they haven’t been doing this for so long is kind of suspicious.”

FDK declined to comment on the conditions of its Indonesian factory. Lax environmental standards may be one explanation for the factory’s location. Other factories in Bekasi are responsible for carcinogenic air pollutants and putrid river waste. Fujitsu’s sustainability report shows that its Indonesian operations are among the dirtiest, ranking the highest on waste production. In 2016, its Bekasi site produced 100 tons of waste more than the next worst producer, FDK Energy.

“On the Indonesian regulation front, I would say if anything it’s limited or not well-enforced, so the risks are low [for a company like Fujitsu],” said Alexis Bateman, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sustainable Supply Chains project, which aims to empower businesses to adopt sustainable development strategies through research.

Indonesia has another quality that’s a boon to battery makers: its deposits of precious natural resources.

Fujitsu declined to comment on the source of its battery materials and whether it’s tapping into Indonesia’s rich manganese supply. There is zero publicly available data on where the company gets its materials, save for an agreement that says it will not buy conflict minerals (tantalum, tin, gold, tungsten, and cobalt) from suppliers that fund human rights abuses. But battery analysts say that companies such as Tesla and Apple, which require batteries of a very different kind, may be looking to Indonesia as resource stockpiles begin to peter out. Tesla is notably in talks to build a battery factory in Central Sulawesi; meanwhile, the Indonesian government is enforcing an export ban on nickel and copper, possibly to bolster its own battery operations.

Thanks to a product sheet, however, we know that Fujitsu’s battery is made using manganese dioxide, graphite, zinc, and potassium hydroxide. It also likely contains paper, nylon, PVC, and steel. It’s unclear what, if any, percentage of these materials are recycled or recyclable.

“The materials aren’t toxic, they don’t pose a significant threat to human health, and they’re not that heavily regulated,” Turner said. “The alkaline is basically refined dirt in a cylinder.”

But their production isn’t so benign. Manganese is linked to human rights abuses, occupational safety violations, and child labor, according to RCS Global, a social responsibility consulting firm. Seventy-six percent of manganese comes from South Africa, China, Australia, and Gabon, RCS Global notes, but there is “virtually no comprehensive traceability” along the supply chain. In other words, while there’s a significant chance that manganese may have been mined in abusive conditions, it’s difficult to pinpoint if a specific company is benefitting, because the mineral is filtered through a number of intermediaries. (The same is true of other minerals.)

Basically nothing is being done to address the risks of manganese production, says the Responsible Sourcing Network, a nonprofit that focuses on human rights abuses in labor. Zinc mining has also been found to release harmful emissions into the air, such as sulfur dioxide, which can be toxic to human health.

“At Amazon, we are strongly committed to ensuring that the products and services we provide are produced in a way that respects human rights and the environment and protects the fundamental dignity of workers,” an Amazon spokesperson told OneZero. “We engage with suppliers that are committed to these same principles, and we set exacting standards for suppliers of goods and services for Amazon and Amazon’s subsidiaries.”