FAIR TRADING ECO REPORT
SUCCESS STORIES
So how are companies selling certified fair trade products going above and beyond benefiting the communities with which they work? “Some of the Fair Trade coconut groups in the Philippines designate 5% of their Fair Trade premium funds each month to a Calamity Fund for use in case of emergencies,” says Martin. “While it is normally used in response to damage caused by typhoons, last year the Fair Trade Committees used $20,000 of these funds for the community’s response to Covid-19.” She also highlights the work of brand Eco Lips. “The majority of the company’s lip care formulas have a minimum 20% of Fair Trade Certified ingredients and their lip scrubs contain 60% or more.” By purchasing Fair Trade Certified organic babaçu and pracaxi oils and organic cupuaçu butter from Brazil for its Vegan Brazilian Lip Tints, the brand is supporting the local indigenous communities who harvest the raw materials. “This support aids in protecting the native plants, as well as providing a new stream of income for the families,” says Martin.
BEYOND CERTIFICATION
Fair trade certification bodies have elevated discussion around social sustainability and corporate responsibility while providing a broad framework that companies can use to jump-start their own policies, says Scott Meadows, Research and Development at Concentrated Aloe Corporation (CAC). But, for Meadows, “certification alone… is not sufficient”. “Formal certification is not always the most effective route, particularly for small and medium sized firms, as costs associated with attaining certification can be prohibitive.” Commenting on CAC’s most recent efforts to support its suppliers, Meadows tells Cosmetics Business: “In 2020, CAC sought to support and provide much needed stability to the community around CAC’s manufacturing site in El Progreso, Guatemala, by setting labour policies that protect and respect employees under the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Through cooperation with national, state and local officials we were able to craft health and safety policies that allowed us to operate safely and efficiently during 2020. “Most consequentially, this has included an expanded paid sick leave policy so that no employee has to risk the health of their coworkers and families in order to make a living. Such policies allow for maximum caution to be exercised in respect to accessing medical care and effectively quarantining when needed.”
PART OF THE PICTURE
As well as businesses ‘doing it for themselves’, attention is growing around organisations incorporating fair trade principles into wider
cosmeticsbusiness.com
Argan fruit (above) is one commonly- used beauty raw material that is frequently available as certified fair trade
ethical standards. France-based certifier Ecocert’s Fair For Life (FFL) fair trade certification, for example, is a popular option for beauty suppliers who might already use the company’s natural and/or organic labels. Suppliers who’ve recently promoted FFL ingredients include BASF for its Lipofructyl Argan ingredient, Forestwise for its Borneo- derived RBD (refined, bleached and deodorised) Illipe butter and Laboratoires Expanscience, whose Skinhairgium Bio and Macaline cosmetic active ingredients now feature the FFL label. B Lab, meanwhile, incorporates ethical trade into its primarily environmental certification. “To become a certified B Corp, companies must complete the B Impact Assessment and achieve a minimum score of 80 points, which is verified by our independent Standards Management team. Companies answer questions spanning the entirety of their operations from governance, workers and environment to community and customers,” says Tom Poldre, Director, Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs at B Lab UK.
He notes that additional points can be earned by companies who can demonstrate their interaction with other certifications and standards, for example fair trade certification. UK-based beauty B Corp companies include Beauty Kitchen, the country’s first B Corp certified high street beauty businesses, artisan skin care company Made for Life Organics, herbalist skin care brand MuLondon and global ethical behemoth The Body Shop
WE ASK THE EXPERT
Rebecca Hamilton, Co-CEO, W.S. Badger Company How do you meet – and go beyond – B Corp’s ethical trading principles? Certified B Corps are businesses that continuously work to
improve their social or environmental impact using best practices set by the non-profit B Lab. Doing what’s right for people and our planet has always been a core
Badger value. Since becoming certified in 2011, we’ve reached some notable milestones, particularly when it comes to sourcing and environmental impact. Several of our products are now certified fair trade (Cocoa Butter Lip Balms, Aloe Vera Gel, Mineral Lip Tints and Damascus Rose Cleansing Milk and Balancing Mist). We also installed a 1,384-unit, 486.7-kilowatt ground and roof-top solar array at our headquarters in fall 2020, which produces enough energy to power all of our operations – and even send extra electricity back to the grid. So our fair trade products are now made using clean energy. Given our planet’s state of health and the effects of climate change,
it’s no longer enough for a business to achieve certifications to demonstrate how it conducts business. We’ve gone beyond exceeding the highest standards for safety and efficacy in our manufacturing practices and ingredient sourcing to put our money where our mouth is through social activism that changes policies, hearts and minds.
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