Waitrose offers the widest range of Fairtrade rose bunches on the high street with 90 per cent of all Waitrose rose bunches bearing the Fairtrade Mark, a certification label awarded to products sourced from the developing world that meet internationally recognised standard of Fairtrade.
Fairtrade standards are set for a range of commodities from the developing world including, tea, sugar, fresh fruit etc. The standards include a Fairtrade price which covers the cost of production and a premium which is invested in the local community.
For every Fairtrade bouquet sold, a social premium will be returned to rose farm workers and their communities. This will mean a radical difference to the lives of thousands of workers and their families.
All Waitrose rose farms are committed to meeting agreed labour standards for their employees, including the payment of a fair wage and the right for workers to join trade unions or committees. Farms also provide health and education facilities for workers and their families.
However, the conversion to Fairtrade by the majority of Waitrose growers will also see a social premium going to these communities.
Elected groups of employees on each farm will decide how the money is best spent. This could be anything from university bursaries for teenagers to additional transport for workers.
The majority of Waitrose roses are sourced from farms in Kenya, where growing flowers is the country's second biggest industry behind tea. Kenyan flowers are produced without the need of burning fossil fuels, unlike European flowers, and growers for Waitrose have raised the standard of living for tens of thousands of people in Kenya, many of whom were previously living at subsistence level.
Projects on Waitrose Farms include:
A lighter Carbon footprint
Waitrose believes strongly in ethical and sustainable sourcing. Recently there has been much press coverage on the environmental effects of growing flowers in Kenya. Waitrose has been working with its suppliers and has been pro-active in conducting research into the environmental effects of its overseas sourcing.
Research undertaken by Cranfield University compared the growing and transportion of roses from Kenya and Holland to the UK. It was found that the Dutch operation created 5.8 times as much CO2 emissions as the Kenyan operations. This is due to the stable climate of Kenya which enables an all year round growing season, without need for additional resources.
The amount of fossil fuel used to supply energy to the Dutch operation was 6 times higher than that of the Kenyan operation.
Of course Kenya is just one source of Waitrose flowers. Year round 50% of our cut flowers are British grown.