Fairtrade is booming in local eateries
Cafés and shops have lots of ethical goods on menu
NIKI TENNANT
One hundred cafés, shops and catering outlets are now selling or serving Fairtrade goods across South Lanarkshire
This commitment from businesses, backed by the active Fairtrade towns and communities, and the council’s own support of ethical trading, has helped South Lanarkshire renew its Fairtrade Zone status for the first time since 2013.
Council leader John Ross and chief executive Cleland Sneddon took the chance to publicise the award to coincide with annual Fairtrade Fortnight.
In Rutherglen, five catering businesses and cafés are serving Fairtrade food and drink, with one in Cambuslang.
A Cambuslang retailer is also selling Fairtrade goods, with another two traders offering such products in Rutherglen.
It highlights issues such as: payment of fair prices to producers as well as a premium to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions; commercial relationships; good working conditions; no child or forced labour and no discrimination including gender equity; and conservation and preservation of the environment.
The council has also implemented a range of initiatives in its own venues and for its workforce, while the local authority’s procurement strategy also commits to “strive to offer ethically sourced, fairly traded and organic produce wherever possible”.
Additionally, the South Lanarkshire good food strategy 2020-25, due to be published in the coming weeks, sets out a variety of objectives to support the development of healthier, fairer and sustainable food systems.
The strategy was endorsed by the council’s executive committee in December.
Councillor Ross said: “In January 2019 the council passed a resolution supporting Fairtrade and, in doing so, renewed its support to Fairtrade and in particular the commitment to renew our Fairtrade zone status.
“It remains a source of pride that Strathaven was the first Scottish town awarded Fairtrade status, showing a genuine commitment from the local community to make a change. “Since then Cambuslang/Rutherglen, Biggar, East Kilbride and Hamilton have joined them and our officers continue to support many more of our towns and villages to do the same.
“What is even more encouraging is that this is a wide ranging commitment which goes beyond shops and cafés.
“All of the Fairtrade town groups have achieved a positive level of community engagement with locally owned workplaces too, and most have produced business directories as guides for consumers.” Mr Sneddon is also impressed by the commitment of South Lanarkshire’s school pupils and said: “Let’s not forget the youngest among us can often be the best advocates for change. That’s why it’s such a boost to note that already more than one in three of our schools actively engages with the Fairtrade message, in their dinner halls, classrooms and through their charitable support.
“This Fairtrade Fortnight shines a light on one of the most important global issues of our time and I am proud that South Lanarkshire is playing such an active and positive part.”