ethical junction

Greenfibres

Ethical Policy

Greenfibres' Environmental and Ethical Policy We endeavour to: ? source the highest quality organic and natural textiles and to minimize the use of synthetics. (1) ? pay a fair price for goods or services (i.e. not to abuse human rights in relation to working conditions and pay). ? use local labour and services whenever possible.(2) ? minimize packaging and use only recyclable packaging when needed. (3) ? minimize �textile-miles�. We aim to help re-establish and support local textile crops in the UK by highlighting and demonstrating the demand for clothing made from crops grown in the UK. (4) ? conduct the business of running a business in a mindful and responsible way, including the actions taken, operating principles and service providers it uses.(5) ? contribute to the education of the general public on organic textiles and related issues (e.g. GM cotton and textile workers working conditions). (6) 1) At Greenfibres we are passionate about the environment that we live in and are part of. We will go to great lengths to ensure that any products we source do as little damage to the environment as possible. This decision process begins at the seed level. Often the choice is quite a simple one � organic or conventional. And since organic farming inhibits the use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides, defoliants or any other man-made chemicals, the choice is obvious to us. In our opinion organic farming offers the only sustainable option for the future of food and textile production. Its techniques are far more in harmony with the natural rhythms of the world around us and aim to mimic nature by not creating monocultures or soils that are reliant on chemicals in order to maintain even the lowest of fertility levels. Hence, we choose organic fabrics over conventionally produced ones wherever we can. Organic cotton, wool and linen are becoming more and more widely available. Hemp on the other hand is not yet grown or produced organically, but the increasing demand for hemp products and the fact that it grows prolifically without the need for any fertilisers or chemicals has helped us in our decision to carry them and actively promote hemp for its almost unlimited number of uses. 2) Greenfibres is 100% against sweatshop labour. Therefore, we will not source products from companies that use or condone such practices as contravene human rights within the work place. As a minimum, companies who supply us must comply with the Code of Conduct as contained in the Global Textile Standards. Further to this, we make every effort to use as much local and small-scale labour as possible. We have a facility in Plymouth that we use to produce many of our own-label, hand-made goods and garments. We aim to treat staff as stakeholders and to pay people above average wages for the work being done given the area we operate in. Furthermore, we are against increasing disparities of incomes and undertake to never have the highest earner in the company making more than 5 times the wage of the lowest earner. 3) Packaging is very wasteful. Raw materials and energy are required during production, pollution is formed throughout the manufacturing process and transportation and final disposal is either in a landfill site or at an incineration plant. This is bad enough, but when you add the fact that a great deal of packaging is unnecessary or not even biodegradable (when environmentally sound options are available) then the picture is far worse. At Greenfibres, we are very serious about minimising our use of packaging. That which we do use is predominantly biodegradable, reusable and recyclable. The small amount of plastic we do use in our packaging (approx. 3% of all packaging) is often re-used from other origins. We encourage our suppliers to take a responsible approach to packaging and have lobbied for biodegradable plastics since the mid-1990s.. 4) People are becoming more aware of the problems associated with �food-miles�: for instance, increasing pollution levels from the globalisation of the food industry and the sheer lunacy of importing fresh produce into the UK that is already grown here. The same goes for fabrics � �textile-miles�. High quality hemp need not only come from China (where 98% of all hemp is grown). It is being successfully grown in Poland, Romania (where we buy 90% of our hemp) and other parts of Eastern Europe and hopefully in the next 5-10 years we will be able to buy direct from UK growers. To this end, Greenfibres hopes to contribute to the reintroduction of hemp as a viable crop in the UK by showing that there is a market for high quality hemp textiles and products. The same is true for linen. The south west of England has a perfect climate for flax from which linen is produced. 5) We believe that to operate a socially and environmentally responsible business we must fully realize our ecological footprint and take responsibility for the way we spend our budgets. To minimize the impact that Greenfibres has on the local and global environment, we have decided to take the following steps regarding services we require to run the business (in addition to those mentioned in points 1 to 4): ? we use electricity from renewable sources (we use Unit-e) ? we use ethical banking (the Co-operative Bank) ? we use co-operative service providers (the Phone Co-op) ? we use local companies where possible (accountants, cardboard recyclers, printers and reprographic companies) ? we use high post-consumer content recycled paper in all our stationery and catalogues 6.) Greenfibres participates in a number of organisations and forums where issues relating to organic fibres are discussed and promoted. These include the Soil Association, The Fair Trade Foundation, the Pesticide Action Network UK, Labour Behind the Label, the Organic Trade Association, the Organic Fiber Council (USA), and the International Association of the Natural Textile Industry. Greenfibres also supports activities of organisations like the Environmental Justice Foundation, Transition Town Networks, Landscope, Women�s Environmental Network, the UK Biodynamic Association and others through donations which amount to approximately 10% of annual profits. The Greenfibres catalogue has information about organic textile matters and directs interested parties to web sites and other sources. This document was written in November 1996 and subject to a biennial review (last done April 2007)