Fair trading

fairtrade logo and promise

What is Fairtrade?

The term Fairtrade covers a range of activities aimed at helping producers and workers in developing countries, including the Americas, Africa and Asia. Fairtrade is a trading partnership which seeks to challenge and revolutionise the inequalities of the present system of international trade, which disadvantages the poor. It provides disadvantaged producers with a fair price for their products and ensures decent working conditions and fair wages for workers on plantations and in factories.  

The Fairtrade Foundation awards a consumer label: the FAIRTRADE Mark.  This certification shows that internationally-recognised standards of fair trade have been met. Producers can then use the additional income they receive to invest in social, environmental and business improvements.

Our Fairtrade Zone campaign

Our Fairtrade Zone initiative is run by the Fairtrade Foundation. The purpose of a Fairtrade Zone is to contribute to the Fairtrade Foundation’s aim of tackling poverty.

East Renfrewshire Council was declared a Fairtrade Zone in March 2007. We worked with Jim Murphy MP, Ken Macintosh MSP, the East Renfrewshire Chamber of Trade and Commerce and the local community to gain this status, and we hope that other local authorities join us to make Scotland a Fair Trade Nation.

5 goals for Fairtrade Zone status

To become a Fairtrade Zone, we had to meet the following five goals:

  • the local council must pass a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings and in its offices and canteens

  • a range of (at least two) Fairtrade products must be readily available in the area’s shops and served in local cafés and catering establishments (targets are set in relation to population)

  • Fairtrade products must be used by a number of local work places (e.g. estate agents, hairdressers etc) and community organisations (e.g. churches, schools etc).

  • media coverage and popular support for the campaign must be attracted

  • a local Fairtrade steering group must be convened to ensure continued commitment to Fairtrade Town status

Local support: how you can help

There has been a great deal of local support for the Fairtrade Zone campaign. Our local churches and schools are very involved in promoting Fairtrade: many organise events such as stalls, coffee mornings, presentations and even fashion shows.

Everyone can do something. You can:

  • buy Fairtrade products. When you go for your weekly shop, look for brands bearing the Fairtrade Mark. Try changing from your usual tea or coffee brand.

  • give a gift with a difference. If you are looking to buy someone a gift, why not buy Fairtrade chocolates, wine, flowers or craft items? Visit Oxfam, look online or buy from mail order companies.

  • when cooking or baking use Fairtrade ingredients. Why not use Fairtrade spices in your main meal or Fairtrade sugar and dried fruit in your cakes?

  • run a Fairtrade stall or host a coffee morning. You could approach your local Traidcrafter or Oxfam shop to see if they will offer a sale or return facility.

  • ask your local shop to sell Fairtrade products.

  • be informed about Fairtrade. Find out about the principles of Fairtrade, where you can buy Fairtrade products and why buying Fairtrade makes a difference.

Contact

For more information on the campaign, or to find out how you can help, please contact:

Laura Hunter
Project Officer
Environment Department

Telephone: (0141) 577 3106
Email:

Supporters of our Fairtrade Campaign

The following local outlets sell a range of Fairtrade products. If your local shop is not selling Fairtrade products, ask them if they would consider stocking a couple of items. As our campaign grows, we hope more outlets will begin to stock Fairtrade products and therefore this list serves as an outline guide only.

Food retail outlets

  • Asda - The Avenue, Newton Mearns

  • Barrhead Sports Centre - Main Street, Barrhead

  • Botterills Convenience Stores Ltd - Mearns Road, Clarkston

  • Co-op Foodstores - Broom Shops, Mearns Road, Newton Mearns

  • Co-op Foodstores - Eaglesham Road, Clarkston

  • Co-op Foodstores - Main Street, Neilston

  • Eat Delicatessen - The Toll, Clarkston

  • Fenwick Post Office (Londis) - Fenwick Road, Giffnock

  • Forget-Me-Not Flowers - Kennishead Road, Thornliebank

  • Gary’s Convenience Store - Clarkston Road, Clarkston

  • Marks and Spencer Plc - The Avenue, Newton Mearns

  • Oxfam - The Toll, Clarkston

  • Peckhams - Broom Shops, Mearns Road, Newton Mearns

  • Simply-Foods - Fenwick Road, Giffnock

  • Tesco - Kelburn Street, Barrhead

  • The Granary - Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Victoria Stores - Paisley Road, Barrhead

  • Wilson’s Delicatessen - Fenwick Road, Giffnock

  • WM Morrisons Supermarkets Ltd - Fenwick Road, Giffnock

Catering outlets

  • Barrhead Sports Centre Café - MainStreet, Barrhead  

  • Beanscene - Helena Place, Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Buon Appetito - Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Derby Café - Clarkston Road, Netherlee

  • Eat Delicatessen - The Toll, Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Greggs - The Toll, Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Greggs - Main Street, Barrhead

  • Neilston Café - Glen Halls, Main Street, Neilston

  • Newton Mearns Baptist Church Café - Greenfarm Road, Newton Mearns

  • Orchardhill Parish Church Café - Church Rd, Giffnock

  • Rascasse - Busby Road, Clarkston

  • Redhurst Hotel - Eastwoodmains Rd, Giffnock

  • Simply-foods Delicatessen - Fenwick Road, Giffnock

  • The Eglinton Arms Hotel - Gilmour Street, Eaglesham

  • The Wishing Well Tearoom - Montgomery Street, Eaglesham

Other retailers

Local work places, schools, places of worship and a number of other businesses offer a wide range of Fair Trade products including candles, cushions and jewellery. These products also ensure that local producers and farmers receive a fair price for their goods.

  • Bluestone Design Gift Shop - Cross Arthurlie Street, Barrhead

  • Traidcraft Representatives - Visit www.traidcraft.co.uk for more details

  • Oxfam - The Toll, Clarkston

Places of work

The following work places are all actively supporting the Fairtrade Zone campaign.  Each work place has committed to use or serve a range of Fairtrade products to customers and employees. This list is by no means comprehensive and we look forward to listing more work places in future.

  • East Renfrewshire Council - all coffee and tea served in canteens, functions and meetings is Fairtrade

  • AMG Training and Consultancy, branches in Newton Mearns and Clarkston

  • Backs and Breathing Centre, Giffnock

  • Barrhead Housing Association, Barrhead

  • Burnfield Care Home, Giffnock

  • Co-op Foodstores, branches in Giffnock and Barrhead

  • East Renfrewshire Credit Union Ltd, Barrhead

  • Eastwood Parliamentary Office, Newton Mearns

  • Oxfam, Clarkston

  • Remax Estate Agents, Clarkston

  • Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, Barrhead

Schools

All of our local schools, both Primary and Secondary, support and promote Fair Trade. They do this through a combination of lessons and/or active promotion of Fairtrade products, including tuck-shops, information and products stalls and vending machines.

Places of worship

A number of our local places of worship, including those listed below, actively promote Fairtrade. Contact your local place of worship to see if they hold Fairtrade stalls or coffee mornings.

  • Arthurlie Parish Church

  • Barrhead Bourock Church

  • Barrhead South and Levern Parish Church

  • Bourock Parish Church

  • Busby Church of Christ

  • Busby Parish Church

  • Caldwell Parish Church

  • Cartsbridge Evangelical Church

  • Church of Broom

  • Eaglesham Parish Church

  • Giffnock United Reformed Church

  • Glasgow New Synagogue

  • Greenbank Parish Church

  • Maxwell Mearns Castle Parish Church

  • Mearns Parish Church

  • Netherlee Parish Church

  • Newton Mearns Baptist Church

  • Newton Mearns Parish Church

  • Orchardhill Parish Church

  • Park Church

  • South and Levern Parish Church

  • St Bridget's Roman Catholic Church

  • St Cadoc's Roman Catholic Church

  • St John's Roman Catholic Church

  • St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

  • Williamwood Parish Church

A message from Jim Fletcher

In East Renfrewshire, our campaign towards achieving and retaining Fairtrade Zone status is a way of showing we care. In the Council, we have sought to embrace the idea of Fairtrade and I welcome the support we have received from many of our local places of worship, community groups and businesses.

This campaign is all because it shows that as consumers we care about why we buy as much as what we buy. Fairtrade gives us an opportunity, through everyday purchases at affordable prices, to help people to help themselves. It gives us a chance to say that we support fair prices and good working conditions for workers, farmers and producers. I don’t want to use a product that has come to me because someone in a developing country has been exploited. I am certain that many thousands of our residents would, if given the choice, agree.

Our starting point in East Renfrewshire was a simple one – we looked at ourselves. In October 2004 we made a simple commitment that we would only serve Fairtrade tea and coffee at all our meetings. That may not seem like a big decision, but every journey starts with a single step. This step led to our canteens, which led to our council catering staff taking up the cause, which rolled it out to schools and other council venues including community centres and halls. From one very small and simple decision, we have seen community groups, religious organisations, local coffee shops and other businesses and many more places change to use Fairtrade products.

By achieving Fairtrade Zone status in East Renfrewshire, we have helped to ensure that producers and farmers in developing countries can afford to pay their bills, send their children to school and have a better standard of living. Our view in East Renfrewshire is that Fairtrade is a win-win situation. We get to help poorer producers in other countries to have a better standard of living and we get an excellent cup of coffee out of it.

There is a huge range of Fairtrade products available from chocolate, honey and sugar, to spices, wine and even cotton products. This webpage will provide you with a list of those shops and cafes that are already selling Fairtrade products. As more and more people get the message and as new products come on to the market I hope this list will grow.

If you haven’t tried a Fairtrade product before, pledge to buy today. If you have an opportunity to stock or serve Fairtrade products and haven’t, pledge to sell it today. If you already buy or sell Fairtrade products then you will know the satisfaction of doing the right thing to help people get a fair price for an excellent product.

Councillor Jim Fletcher

Councillor Jim Fletcher
Leader of East Renfrewshire Council