Invest Your Pantry with Fair Trade Goodies
Fair trade is a system of exchange that seeks to create greater equity and partnership in the international trading system by:
- Paying fair wages in local context;
- Supporting participatory workplaces;
- Ensuring environmental sustainability;
- Supplying financial and technical support;
- Offering public accountability.
- Respecting cultural identity;
- Building direct and long-term relationships; and,
- Educating consumers.
Fair trade offers great products to the public. Fair trade keeps prices affordable for consumers while returning a higher amount of the producers. This relationship is made by possible because fair traders typically work directly with artisans and farmers, cutting out the middle men who increase the price at each level. This enables retail products to remain competitively priced in respect to their conventional counterparts, while more fairly compensating producers.
What’s more, fair trade makes a tremendous impact on communities. Children’s school fees are paid, nutritional needs met, health care costs are covered. Also, the poor, especially women, are empowered, the environmental impact of production, sourcing, and transport is mitigated to the fullest extent possible. Such an impact is created because fair trade approaches development as a holistic process.
In Hong Kong, there are a wide range of coffee, tea, chocolates, cookies, wine, sugar, dried fruits, arts & crafts available in fair trade stores and health food stores that we can stock up our pantries.
Another “best buy” reason is that fairly traded items do not cost more than other goods because fair trade organizations work directly with producers - cutting out anywhere from 3 - 10 middlemen who raise the price along the way in conventional trading. The cost to consumers typically remains the same while a higher percentage of the price is returned to the artisans and farmers who made the product.
Source: Fair Trade Federation (www.fairtradefederation.org)
Wellness Club Ltd (www.wellnessclubhk.com) is founded by Yolanda Che, a 20-year green living role model in the media and a natural products industry expert. Wellness Club Ltd facilitates businesses on carbon neutral office policies and corporate wellness initiatives, green marketing and sustainable investment practices. The company has won Caring Company 2008/09 Logo.
Yolanda Che also serves cause-related public services: board director of Produce Green Foundation, governing board member of Hong Kong Organic Resource Center. She is also secretary of a health food SME trade association “Association of Green, Organic At Living” and chair of its Regulatory Affairs Committee.