Green bag firm calls for tougher fairtrade standards

A reusable bag firm is calling for tougher fairtrade standards to certify that firms go beyond ensuring farmers get paid fairly and provide more evidence that they operate ethical and sustainable supply chains.

Currently, the Fairtrade Foundation offers its logo to producers of goods that can prove they paid farmers a fair price for their goods and conduct business in an environmentally responsible way.

But Sri Ram, managing director of Supreme Creations, the first company to manufacture a fairtrade reusable bag, said he would like to see another, tougher standard introduced, which could be dubbed 'Fairtrade Plus'.

"We want to raise the standard so that the whole supply chain is ethical - that means paying workers a fair price as well as the suppliers of raw materials," he said.

Supreme Creations supplies bags made chiefly from cotton to major retailers, including Tesco, Boots and Topshop.

Ram claims his firm boasts the highest ethical standards throughout the supply chain, but is finding that many retailers are not willing to pay the extra costs associated with improved supply chain management without the recognition a tougher standard would provide.

"Retailers and supermarkets are interested in Fairtrade Plus, but they are not willing to pay the extra price over and above the standard fairtrade price, " he said. "We think the minimum standard needs to be raised."

A spokeswoman for the Fairtrade Foundation said it was investigating introducing new standards for supply chains. "We'd like to extend the Fairtrade certification further up the supply chain one day, but it's a very complex process," she said. "The farmers are the most vulnerable part of the chain, which is why we started with them, but absolutely we want to extent that. We'll be working with all our partners in the future to do so."

Supreme Creations employs around 2,000 people at its factory in Southern India – most of whom are women. The firm owns its entire supply chain – from fibre production through to the final product – making it relatively simple to check on the ethical and environmental credentials of different parts of the supply chain.

However, Ram said there was no excuse for firms failing to adequately audit the environmental impact of their supply chains. "You can still do this even if you don't own the whole supply chain," he said. "Just look at the work Marks & Spencer's is doing - its supply chain is huge."

Supreme Creations is currently looking to capitalise on the government's target to reduce the amount of plastic bags used by shoppers. Last year, seven of the UK's biggest supermarkets cut the number of plastic bags they hand out by 48 per cent, and Ram is pushing retailers to increase their adoption of reusable bags.