Fairtrade

Information on Fairtrade on this website is from the UK’s Fairtrade Foundation website at https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

Fairtrade at St Mary’s

Welcome to the Fairtrade section of the St Mary’s website… At St Mary’s we have a Fairtrade stall selling Traidcraft products in the Church Hall. It is usually accessible whenever the Hall is open, including after Sunday services. This is not intended to be an end in itself but rather a part of encouraging everyone to incorporate Fair Trade into their daily lives..

Why not show your support for Fairtrade and get up-to-date news and discussion by following The Fairtrade Foundation. They’re on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Enjoy! 😃



Why Fairtrade

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on UK products as a guarantee that they have been certified against internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. It shares internationally recognised Fairtrade standards with initiatives in 20 other countries, working together globally with producer networks as Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO). The Mark indicates that the product has been certified to give a better deal to the producers involved – it does not act as an endorsement of an entire company’s business practices. Full info on the Fairtrade Mark and certification from the Fairtrade Foundation website.



Buy Fairtrade

There is a wide range of Fairtrade products available both from the regular church Traidcraft stall, locally in supermarkets and online.

Church Fairtrade/Tradecraft stall
On the 3rd Sunday of each month there will be a Fairtrade/Tradecraft stall at coffee time in the Douglas Hall after the morning service.

Online and from independent fairtrade shops

Traidcraft Shop www.traidcraftshop.co.uk (there will be a regular Traidcraft stall at St Mary’s. Why not have a look online and suggest items you’d liked stocked on the church stall).
People Tree www.peopletree.co.uk (Fairtrade clothing)
One World Shop (St John’s Church Edinburgh / Great Western Road Glasgow) www.oneworldshop.co.uk
Hadeel (123 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4JN) www.hadeel.org



Be Inspired

Behind every Fairtrade cuppa you brew, banana you peel, glass of wine you pour there is a human story. The stories from the producers are inspiring on how Fairtrade is benefiting them, their families and their communities.

You can read their stories on the Fairtrade Foundation’s website.

Here are just some snippets…
“It’s the women who do all the work in the coffee gardens while men ‘supervise’ Women prepare the food and look after the children; they do everything in the home as well. But now women are getting jobs and getting more respect from men. Women have seen me become a successful farmer and a voice in the co-op and many women farmers are interested in joining our co-op. They have seen foreigners come to my farm with their cameras and they admire what I do. Now they also want to earn their own money, to be independent and support their families financially. And now some of the men are realising that it is better for their home if they treat women more equally.” – Oliva Kishero, coffee producer, Uganda

“I did not get any education but I want my children to. Because of the Fairtrade price, I can send them to school.” – Laljibhai Narranbhai, cotton farmer, Agroocel Pure & Fair Cotton Growers’ Association

“There is certainly no doubt about it – Fairtrade has saved the Islands. Without it we would be in desperate trouble.” – Cornelius Lynch, Secretary of the Fairtrade Committee, St Lucia, Winward Islands Farmers’ Association (Banana Producers).



Some Interesting Fairtrade Facts...

19 million glasses of Fairtrade wine were enjoyed in the UK in 2010. You can buy Fairtrade wines in most major retailers and selected wine merchants.
One in every four bananas sold in UK supermarkets are Fairtrade. All bananas in Sainsbury’s are Fairtrade – they sell 1,200 Fairtrade bananas a minute adding up to a whopping 650 million a year (2015).
Over £25 Million in Fairtrade Premium generated from Fairtrade sales in the UK in 2014.
£1.67 Billion in UK Fairtrade sales in UK in 2014.
Fairtrade is a thriving and growing campaign movement with over 600 Fairtrade Towns, over 1000 Fairtrade Schools, over 170 Fairtrade Universities and Colleges and over 6,700 Fairtrade Faith Groups, including Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Hindu temples. (2015)
West Lothian has: four Fairtrade towns – Bathgate, Linlithgow, Livingston and Whitburn; one Fairtrade village in Uphall; two mini Fairtrade zones in Fauldhouse and Breich Valley (2015).
Sainsburys is the world’s largest retailer of Fairtrade products (2015).