Ethical Tea and Environmental Committments

Ethical Tea

Ethical tea (Twining's, 2014)

Twining's are adamant about producing tea whilst being confident of the welfare of the people who worked to picked it. So what commitments have Twining's made to ensuring the well-being of the workers on tea plantations?

In order to create their wide range of blends, tea is sourced from more than 500 estates in the world, since preference is giving to sourcing tea directly from tea estates rather than through intermediaries. Tea has been sourced for over 300 years, and many long term relationships have been built on trust and respect.
Twining's works with producers to ensure that people working on tea estates are treated fairly. As such, their buyers are trained on ethical trade issues, and they work with the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), which improves tea workers' welfare and the environment in which they live.

ETP logo (Twining's, 2014)

They are a founder and active member of the ETP, which was established in 1997. The ETP monitors social and environmental conditions on tea estates in all major tea producing regions. In addition to this monitoring, the ETP partners with a range of organizations in order to implement projects that are aimed at tackling key sustainability issues. These include improving labour relations and reducing discrimination, the safe management of agrochemicals, and adaptation to climate change. Twining's are committed to only buying tea from estates that participate in the ETP programme.

In addition, they buy certified Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance teas. As such, all of their teas are sourced ethically. Twining's is also involved in the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) Tea Improvement Programme, which consists of the largest tea companies in Europe, and important certifiers and NGOs, who work together in the hopes of the worldwide sustainable production and consumption of tea.

Environmental Committments

Twining's is continually committed to protecting the environment, and ensure that their impact on the planet is reduced as much as possible. As such, environmental risks of their operations are done routinely, with improvement programmes being put into place. Energy and water consumption is kept to a minimum, and waste production, especially to landfills, is mitigated. In the UK and Switzerland, for example, waste is not disposed to any landfill sites. Improvements are made yearly so as to reduce environmental impacts and improve their environmental performance.

Environmental commitments (Twining's, 2014).