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9. Material Impacts

Fair Trade Cotton

Fairtrade works with small scale farmers in Africa and Asia to create farmer-owned organisations.

This helps farmers practice collective bargaining to negotiate with ginners and traders.

Fairtrade ensures

  • farmers are paid a living wage

  • workers get a fair price for the labour

  • communities are helped to build wells and schools

  • small scale farmers can access global markets

Recycled Components

Collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away to make new products can benefit the community and the environment in many ways.

Valuable, non-renewable materials can be reused, which is cheaper than using new ones and stops them going to landfill.

Biodegradable Packaging

Biodegradable packaging is made of natural materials that can be broken down by microorganisms. They are mainly used in cardboard, paper, and bio-based plastics, and are normally made of corn-starch, mushrooms, or seaweed.

Some benefits include;

  • decomposes more quickly to save landfill space

  • does not use up finite resources

  • materials are less harmful to the environment

  • less energy is used in production

  • more efficient to recyclable

  • non-toxic when broken down

  • reduce reliance on imported oil

M

9. Material Impacts

Fair Trade Cotton

Fairtrade works with small scale farmers in Africa and Asia to create farmer-owned organisations.

This helps farmers practice collective bargaining to negotiate with ginners and traders.

Fairtrade ensures

  • farmers are paid a living wage

  • workers get a fair price for the labour

  • communities are helped to build wells and schools

  • small scale farmers can access global markets

Recycled Components

Collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away to make new products can benefit the community and the environment in many ways.

Valuable, non-renewable materials can be reused, which is cheaper than using new ones and stops them going to landfill.

Biodegradable Packaging

Biodegradable packaging is made of natural materials that can be broken down by microorganisms. They are mainly used in cardboard, paper, and bio-based plastics, and are normally made of corn-starch, mushrooms, or seaweed.

Some benefits include;

  • decomposes more quickly to save landfill space

  • does not use up finite resources

  • materials are less harmful to the environment

  • less energy is used in production

  • more efficient to recyclable

  • non-toxic when broken down

  • reduce reliance on imported oil