Fairtrade beauty ingredients put to the question

Just two days left of Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 – have you swapped yet?

Today the Fairtrade Foundation is featured on The Guardian’s ‘You ask, they answer’ Green Living blog. Here’s their response to Clean Green Beauty’s question.

Clean Green Beauty asked: Beauty products are the most recent category to receive Fairtrade certification, which is fab, but the minimum percentage of Fairtrade ingredients required per product is pretty low. I understand that this was initially set low to encourage manufacturers and make Fairtrade beauty more accessible, but do you see the minimum percentage increasing any time soon?

Fairtrade Foundation replied: CleanGreenBeauty, thanks for your question on one of our more recent categories, I hope we are able to help you out with this answer:

Our rules state that for a product to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, all ingredients that can be certified Fairtrade, must be sourced from Fairtrade certified producers under Fairtrade terms. Only the natural ingredients have the potential to be Fairtrade certified, therefore it is not possible for all ingredients of a beauty product to be Fairtrade. However, beauty products are usually made up of a combination of water, synthetic and natural (or naturally derived) ingredients and very often, natural ingredients make up a relatively low proportion of the overall volume of a product. Indeed water often makes up 80% or 90% of a beauty product, so the Fairtrade standards must fit with typical product formulations to be technically and commercially viable. For these reasons and those further explained below there are currently no plans to increase the minimum percentage.

The cosmetics policy covers ‘leave-on’ products (e.g. lotions, body oils, face masks and lipstick) and ‘wash off’ products (e.g. shampoos, shower gels, soaps and toothpaste). For each product category there are threshold levels, which specify the minimum proportion of Fairtrade content in the final product.

In determining the minimum threshold our aim is to secure the best possible opportunity for Fairtrade producers. The threshold levels were established following extensive research and consultation with consumers, industry, producers and other key stakeholders, and are meant as a minimum only – we expect companies to use the highest levels of Fairtrade ingredients possible, which indeed many brands already do.

These levels open up the potential market for Fairtrade labelling to 53% of the total cosmetics and personal care market and will allow a wide range of products to be formulated, including the best-selling volume lines. Setting higher thresholds would limit the overall volume potential considerably and therefore limit the ultimate benefits back to producers.

For producer organisations, the primary benefit of Fairtrade will be the development of long term and supportive trading relationships with the companies to whom they sell. While the Fairtrade minimum price and premium will help improve their stability of income and ability to reinvest in their communities, the Fairtrade system recognises that most beauty products are often heavily water-based and contain relatively small volumes of natural ingredients. The Fairtrade model for beauty products therefore seeks to add further value for producers by obliging companies to develop a partnership plan by which they commit to additional support for the producers of the raw ingredients. This could be additional financial support for producer business improvements or community projects, or technical support with market access, management or other needs, for example investing in value-added business activities, using UK expertise to assist producer organisations develop products for local market.

It is up to the farmers’ organisations to decide democratically how they wish to invest premiums they earn from Fairtrade and for many, ingredients that go into beauty formulations are a secondary source of income following many years of selling their crop into the Fairtrade market. Conacado for example have used their Fairtrade premium for a number of projects including: providing training courses for farmers to help improve quality and yield; constructing a new school and contributing to school repairs in five regions; running a healthcare clinic for the community including free medical check-ups; and providing interest-free loans and credit to members.

Kasinthula Cane Growers Association, Malawi have provided safe, clean water to the three villages that had to collect water from the Shire River, risking water-borne diseases and attack from crocodiles. The first borehole was dug in the village of Kapasule in March 2004. The 500-plus villagers no longer have to use the river or make the 2.5 km walk to Siseu village to collect clean water. A second borehole was dug in Chinangwa village in 2005. Significant premium money has been used to make electricity available for the first time in two villages where Kasinthula members live. Pylons and transformers have been brought in and the villagers have connected their houses to the supply. For the first time the villagers will be able to work in the evenings, without having to struggle to read and see in the dark and working hours can be extended so they will be able to earn more.

The increased sales that these producers will be able to make as a result of being able to access a new market sector will increase further the benefits that they, their families and communities will make from the sale of Fairtrade beauty products.