RSSIt’s Fairtrade Week
February 27, 2007 · Written by Joel
And my local council have provided a nice booklet to explain what it’s all about. It’s an excellent introduction and explains why I live in a Fairtrade borough. It means the council has passed a resolution supporting Fairtrade and will serve Fairtrade tea and coffee at it’s meetings, offices and canteens.
The Fairtrade Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.
“Two hundred years ago the British Atlantic slave trade was abolished. The campaigners of the time used this message: ‘It is simply immoral that people should be allowed to suffer in order to provide us with luxuries such as tea, coffee and sugar.’ Unfortunately that message is still true today.”
Fairtrade in the news
The Daily Telegraph reported that sales of Fairtrade products rose
46 per cent last year, reaching £290mn, “providing further evidence of the growth of the ethical consumer”.
Sainsbury’s pledged to sell only Fairtrade tea, coffee and hot chocolate in its in-store restaurants. It will also sell a range of clothing made from Fairtrade cotton.
The Independent reports that Fairtrade clothing is popular, with demand for ethically certified cotton doubling in six months.
The Times reports that the Fairtrade Foundation is seeking up to £50mn from governments in the UK and abroad to help finance development projects overseas over the next five years.
Fairtrade wants a long-term investment plan to help it to expand into new markets, such as cosmetics.
The foundation hopes to repeat the success of its Fairtrade cotton, which was launched in November 2005 and will underpin major clothing ranges at Marks & Spencer, Top Shop, Monsoon and Sainsbury’s this year. Harriet Lamb, director of the foundation, said: “Britain leads the way in fair trade. We have the biggest market and we hope we can be a global centre of excellence. The Department for International Development and Fairtrade have similar objectives and we can take those forward if they give us financial support.”
Just found out Marks and Spencer have loads of Fairtrade clothes - good stuff.
[...] ‘green’ also includes choosing where you buy things from. Life Goggles has mentioned Fair Trade before, but you can also now buy Fair Trade products off eBay. It has [...]
Bags of Change is a new ethical shopping loyalty scheme. The bags are made of organic cotton and semi wild farmed hemp, and cost £14.85. You can get discounts in shops that are local, organic, fairtrade, and sustainable, that part of the scheme. Visit the site http://www.BagsofChange.co.uk to see the shops and to buy the bag.
Katie
Appreciate that Katie, thanks. Looks interesting!