UK: Co-op Group goes 100% Fairtrade on African roses
The retailer is the first to sign up to the new international Fairtrade Sourcing Ingredients model for flowers, which allows businesses to commit to sourcing one or more Fairtrade commodities for use as ingredients in finished products and replicates the Co-op’s 2017 commitment on Fairtrade cocoa sourcing.
Now any roses from Africa, used in either single or mixed bouquets, will be Fairtrade – meaning 35 million Fairtrade roses will be sourced for the Co-op from Africa each year.
To mark the new sourcing initiative, the Group has pledged to make a donation of £30k, generated by the overall sales of Fairtrade roses in February and March 2018, to the community hospital in Naivisha, Kenya. The donation will help struggling graduate nurses to find employment and offer training around increased patient care.
It will also deliver a much needed improvement in the maternity service currently available to flower growing communities.
Read more at Co-operative News (Rebecca Harvey)