🌱 Good Karma (Drinks) starts with Fairtrade.
Featuring Club Soda, Pukka Herbs, Pact Coffee and more...
Happy Monday!
This week we’re focusing on all things Fairtrade. We cover:
What can ‘good Karma’ really look like - we dig into Karma Drinks.
Fairtrade: Choosing a Fairer World for All.
In case you missed it: 🌱 What about your workers? Pact Coffee prioritise their farmers, so here are 6 certifications to help you do the same.
Before we dig in, we’d love to ask you a quick question: Which part of this newsletter do you find most useful? Please click on your answer:
> Good News Last Week
🎯 Club Soda, Groundwork Coffee Holdings LCC, TheRightChairs, Wild Clean and Siponey have all certified as B Corp.
🎯 Pukka unveiled their 2021 Impact Report, revealing that they achieved a 58% reduction in supplements packaging emissions due to a redesign, and in 2021 they planted 511,768 trees in partnership with TreeSisters. They’ve also donated €1,099,801 to environmental and social projects via their 1% for the Planet commitment.
🎯 Original Source announced they’re launching one-litre refill pouches that use 85% less plastic packaging than four standard 250ml shower gel bottles. Their goal is to reduce plastic content/kg of product by 25%, and move to 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable plastics by 2025.
⭐️ Sainsbury’s unveiled their new handwash re-fill pouches, which use 85% less plastic and will save an estimated total of 28 tonnes of plastic every year. They’re also 35% cheaper compared to buying the equivalent bottles.
⭐️ Coop Foundation introduced the first 14 participants of their £3 million Carbon Innovation Fund, which collectively will receive £1.3m of funding. The fund launched last November, and now supports innovations from mushroom cultivation in Wales (Coed Talylan Enterprise Ltd), to polytunnel farming in Northern Malawi (Malawi Fruits), to agroforestry education in Sheffield (Regather Ltd).
⭐️ Carlsberg Group announced their new Fibre Bottle, putting the bio-based and fully recyclable beer bottle into the hands of consumers for the first time. 8,000 Fibre Bottles will be sampled in eight Western European markets as part of the trial. It’s key win is the plant-based PEF polymer lining, developed in partnership with Avantium.
⚡️ Re-Action announced their mission to log 10,000 clothing repairs by the end of 2022, as part of their ‘10,000 repairs campaign’. With a particular emphasis on outdoor clothing and equipment, they’re asking participants to register their repairs via this form and use the hashtag #ReAction10000Repairs.
> Click on each link to read more.
> Brand Spotlight
What can ‘good Karma’ really look like?
The world drinks over 1 million colas a minute. That’s over 60 million colas an hour. That's two billion a day. That is a lot of cola. If we were consuming other goods, say pints of ice cream or lemonade, in those quantities we'd be asking some serious questions. Where is the product coming from? Who is growing the ingredients? What are the implications of drinking so much of this product?
That’s what Karma Drinks did. And they are now showing the rest of the ‘cola’ industry what responsible business truly can look like.. After all, some of the big names (like…Coca Cola…) routinely have their ethics questioned.
Founded in New Zealand in 2010, Karma uses Cola nuts purchased directly from communities in the Gola rainforest, 8 hours from Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown. With a firm ethos of doing good and being good, Karma is built on three core values:
Humanity
Impact
Creativity
Whilst one element of Good Karma comes from doing right by people, it also comes from doing good by the planet too. Karma Cola is proud to be certified organic by the Soil Association (similar to other drink brands like Clearspring and James White Drinks). They’re also plastic free, having removed 1.4 tonnes of plastic from their supply chain. True to their word, they’re working with communities in Sierra Leone to protect the rainforest through regenerative farming, protecting the land through every season. Their partnership with OneTribe plants 25 trees in the Amazon for every case of Karma sold, with over 18,700 trees planted and protected. The list can go on - from not-for-profit Gingerella drinks, through to Fairtrade certification (read on for our Quick Take on how your business can follow in these footprints). .
Unlike many for profit businesses, Karma drinks don’t believe in ‘giving back’ - because they didn’t take in the first place. They believe in growing with their suppliers and their farmers, from sharing ideas, inspiration, work and benefits. This anti-colonial approach, “Relationships first, business second” has resulted in the successful funding and international growth of the business year on year, and the launch of The Karma Foundation.
Why did Karma set up The Karma Foundation?
It’s not just their supply chain that is transparent. Through the Karma Foundation, their positive impact on the communities where they operate and the land where they harvest is well documented too. Some of their key successes this year alone include:
1% of all Karma profit is donated to The Karma Foundation. The foundation chooses to fund projects that build the most value possible for the farmers and communities. How? Simply by asking them. Actively trying to avoid the belief that Karma Drinks knows better, they listen closely to their growers, and then aim to help fund the projects that they really truly need.
Keen to learn more? Read Karma’s Impact Report.
Support Karma via their shop:
> Quick Take
Fairtrade: Choosing a Fairer World for All.
The Fairtrade logo is arguably the most established logo on a product's packaging. Growing up, the FtF team all remember seeing the iconic silhouette logo on the chocolate bar in the school tuck-shop, or on the bananas in the fruit bowl. Though we may not have known exactly what it meant at the time, we sure knew the logo meant that the product was good for the people getting in from farm to us.
Even today, Fairtrade remains at the forefront of representing sustainable business in the food & drink sector, with 82% of the UK public caring about products having Fairtrade standards. Let’s dig into…
What actually is Fairtrade, and why is it so beneficial for businesses? Our top six things to know before you start your Fairtrade journey…
1. What is Fairtrade?
Put simply - Fairtrade International is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organisation on a mission to promote fairer trading conditions, making certain that the people who produce the goods receive a fair price so they’re empowered to combat poverty and ‘take more control over their lives’. Fairtrade International is responsible for the Fairtrade Standards and supporting producers in developing countries. The standards aren’t limited to any select industry, but they are focused on less economically developed countries - from farmers, to growers & harvesters to garment workers. There are two models of sustainable sourcing with Fairtrade - core FAIRTRADE Mark or the FAIRTRADE Sourced Ingredient Mark. Farmers receive the same benefits for both - which includes the protection of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and the additional ‘Fairtrade Premium’ to choose how to invest in their community.
2. How do you become Fairtrade accredited?
To be able to claim to be a fairtrade company, a business must be audited and receive accreditation from the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), which in the UK is the Fairtrade Foundation. Fairtrade works with FLOCERT as their independent verification partner.
3. What does my business or products, need to do or be, to be Fairtrade certified?
For the core FAIRTRADE Mark, any of a products ingredients that can be Fairtrade certified, must be. For example a chocolate bar would need to have its cocoa, vanilla and sugar sourced as Fairtrade. At a minimum, 20% of the composition must be Fairtrade (find out more here). For the FAIRTRADE Sourced Ingredient (FSI) model, businesses can commit to using greater quantities of one or more ingredients across their ranges or entire business, rather than every ingredient within a single product. As a general principle, to classify as Fairtrade you must have complete supply chain transparency and meet various trading standards.
4. How long will this process take, and how much does it cost?
Application to product launch could be only a few weeks, if you already work with Fairtrade certified suppliers. To bring Fairtrade suppliers into the existing system takes considerably longer. Certification costs vary based on requirements, and additional costs are tied to the volume of products you source or sell. The Fairtrade Foundation is a registered charity, so costs go straight to the farmers and services provided.
5. What products can be Fairtrade certified?
Fairtrade standards exist for 14 different categories of foods including coffee, bananas, nuts, wine and tea, as well as non-food products including cotton, beauty products, plants and gold. There are upwards of 4500 Fairtrade products in UK stores.
6. How can I use Fairtrade if I sell products that can’t be certified?
Just because your products may not fall in the categories above, doesn’t mean you can’t join the Fairtrade movement. By supporting brands and products that are Fairtrade in your business - be it the office coffee suppliers to the branded tote bags - or beginning to follow Fairtrade principles in your own supply chain, the positive impact that the Fairtrade community can have goes further than the products themselves.
The Fairtrade Foundation offers programmes and support to help businesses over and above sourcing Fairtrade, instead analysing your own supply chains, promoting best practices and consumer engagement. You can read more about how you can get involved here.
Interested? Read on…
Want to shop Fairtrade in the UK? Directory here.
Read more about the benefits of becoming Fairtrade here.
UK Fairtrade FMCG companies to check out:
Karma Cola
Y.O.U Underwear - the UK’s highest scoring B Corp.
Zing Flowers - only one of two specialist Fairtrade flower companies in the UK.
Clipper Tea - the UK’s first Fairtrade tea company.
> In case you missed it
🌱 What about your workers? Pact Coffee prioritise their farmers, so here are 6 certifications to help you do the same.
Featuring Brewgooder, Nopla, Minor Figures and more...
Follow up with…
Article: What Exactly Is Fair Trade, And Why Should We Care?
Article: Five Critical Steps to Avoid Violating New Uyghur Anti-Slavery Import Law
Workbook: The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How to Centre Cli Action in Climate Justice