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Expanding horizons and your Fairtrade shopping cart
From ice cream to gold to soccer balls – Fairtrade is all around. Whether it’s ingredients or straight from the crop, by choosing items with Fairtrade Mark, you can make a huge difference to the lives of struggling farmers and workers across the globe.
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Bet you didn’t know Fairtrade gold can be found in your laptop did you? How about ice cream – can you get that made with Fairtrade ingredients? Find out more about other Fairtrade products you may not have expected…
Ice Cream
So this is about certifying elements of the one product. Take ice cream for example, Fairtrade doesn’t certify milk, but we do certify many of the other ingredients like nuts, chocolate and sugar. One of the most famous brands is Ben & Jerry’s. They are an example of a global brand making a difference.
Fairtrade ice cream brands:
Soccer Balls
The beloved sports ball. It can unite people from all walks of life. Unlike its handling on the field, this product is carefully hand-stitched in countries like Pakistan and India. Often the workers have to toil for long hours and seven days a week in unsafe work environments. Women and children make up a large part of this hidden, voiceless workforce. Because of the low wages they receive, many workers keep their children out of school to stitch balls. The root cause of this is poverty. That’s not really fair play now, is it?
A Fairtrade certified factory changes this. We ensure workers receive a fair and legal wage as well as Fairtrade Premium payments. Workers can reinvest this money whichever way they see fit, be that for education or to improve drinking water at the factories.
Next time you buy a ball make sure it has the Fairtrade Mark and know you are helping to prevent child labour and end poverty for those who so painstakingly stitched it for you.
Fairtrade soccer ball brands:
Gold
Gold isn’t just on your finger or around your neck – it is everywhere. It’s a component in your phone or your laptop and countless other devices.
Despite its status as a multi-billion dollar business, gold mining can be a risky business for the smaller players. These smaller players are called artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) groups. They are not to be mistaken for the big multinationals; ASMs take on mining work as the only form of income available to them. This means they don’t have the same extraction rights and therefore, are vulnerable to exploitation and even extortion from organised crime groups. Not to mention the practice of extraction itself can be very dangerous.
But in 2011 Fairtrade noticed some of the small-scale mining cooperatives who were working to improve their situation and thought we could lend a helping hand with Fairtrade certification. This is aimed at banning all forms of conflict minerals from the gold supply chain and breaking the cycle of instability and conflict in mining areas. At the same time, Fairtrade supports ASM cooperatives to acquire legal status for their operations and enables miners to act collectively against any form of discrimination.
So next time you’re shopping for something that contains gold, do your research or ask for Fairtrade, and support small-scale miners to get their fair share.
Read our Introduction to Fairtrade Gold to learn more.
Fairtrade gold brands:
Cosmetics, Skin Care and Health
Cosmetic and skin care products are a feature in the daily routine of millions of people throughout the world, but the stories of exploitation behind many of these products aren’t pretty.
Fairtrade works with farmers to source ingredients such as shea butter, coconut, brazil nut oil and argan oil. One example is something you might see next time you travel and the little shampoos and conditioners you find in hotels and motels. The scale of this kind of supply chain means great opportunities for producers around the world.
Fairtrade skin care brands
Others
But there’s more!
That’s right, we have a bunch more options to get your Fairtrade fix; from syrup to Kombucha!
Soft Drinks
Karma Cola believes what you drink should not only taste good, it should be good for the land, good for the people who grow the ingredients and as good for you as a fizzy drink can be.
Batchwell Kombucha’s unique organic tea blend is handcrafted and steeped in twice-filtered water. Their juice is lovingly cold pressed in the brewery and is made using organic fruits and vegetables.
Syrup
Using Fairtrade ingredients and natural flavours and colours, The Goodness syrups are perfect for spicing up coffee and hot milk or for using as toppings for desserts. Lots of cafes around the world also use The Goodness as an ingredient in homemade biscuits and cakes and their Spicy Chai has been known to appear in curries and tapas.
Vanilla
Found in every pantry, and an essential component of irresistible baked goods, vanilla is a delicate crop that requires careful tending. Like many products traded in the global market, vanilla experiences huge price fluctuations. This has a profound impact on vulnerable farmers who depend on vanilla production for their livelihoods. Additional pressure comes from the competition with synthetic vanilla, which is less costly and labour intensive to produce, and is widely used by manufacturers in a variety of products.
Shopping Fairtrade: an impact felt across the globe
Here are just some of the milestones and achievements Fairtrade has delivered for workers, small-scale farmers and their communities.
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Million Fairtrade farmers and workers across the globe
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Producer organisations representing farmers and workers
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Countries and territories where Fairtrade producers operate
Other Fairtrade products
Where to buy Fairtrade
So you see, there are oodles of Fairtrade products to choose from for several facets of your life. Be that what you eat, wear or do in your leisure time. Look or ask for the Fairtrade Mark.