Date issued: 18 July 2019.
Colchester’s commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Fairtrade products in the community has been recognised with a Fairtrade Town certificate – for the 13th year running!
Colchester’s Mayor, Cllr Nick Cope, was presented with the award in a brief ceremony ahead of last night’s Full Council meeting.
Colchester first received its Fairtrade Town accreditation 2006. The certificate is awarded by The Fairtrade Foundation, which works to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by promoting and licensing the Fairtrade Mark – the symbol of the international Fairtrade system and most globally recognized ethical label.
The scheme helps tackle injustice in conventional trade by supporting farmers and workers as they improve their lives and their communities.
The Mayor of Colchester, Councillor Nick Cope, said: “Colchester is rightly proud to have maintained its status as a Fairtrade Town for the past 13 years.
“More than ever, people are concerned about the impact their choices have on the environment and on the lives of those who produce the goods they buy.
“The prospects of a fairer, greener, happier world are bound up in every single choice we make as consumers, so it’s reassuring to know that Fairtrade products are high quality and buying them enables a real change for the better for farmers and workers in the developing world.”
Don Manhire, member of the Fairtrade Town Steering Group, added: “We are lucky enough to live in a wealthy country, so we should be very sympathetic to buying Fairtrade products in our local shops, to help give poor families in developing countries a better life.
“The success of Fairtrade in Colchester is essentially down to the tireless efforts of a small Steering Group of volunteers dedicated to promoting Fairtrade.”
Page last reviewed: 18 July 2019