A FIRM making kitchens has partnered with a social enterprise to promote ethically-sourced and fairly-traded tea.
Dewsbury-based Rixonway has joined forces with Not Just a Trading Company to support the initiative which will provide a fair wage for producers overseas and supports skills and training in the UK.
The link-up has seen the two companies work together to design a bespoke packet of tea which will be given away at various events throughout the year.
NJATC is a social enterprise set up by the Huddersfield-based Lorna Young Foundation to offer young people and communities the chance to set up and run their own trading enterprises with ethical business principles being their driving force.
Rixonway, which makes kitchens for affordable and social housing, said it chose to work with NJATC as its ethics mirrors its own corporate social responsibility policies.
The ethically-sourced and sustainably produced tea bags guarantee that everyone in the supply chain has been treated fairly.
Rixonway Kitchens has developed strong links with local charities, organisations and employment agencies.
Laura Smith, NJATC business and community initiatives manager, said: “We were delighted when Rixonway approached us regarding this partnership.
“Our tea is sourced directly from a tea-producing cooperative in rural India with all the money from sales of the products being pumped back into supporting its UK enterprise groups with skills and training.”
Nick Greenall, operations director at Rixonway Kitchens, said: “We are always happy to provide support to schemes which benefit all those involved in an ethical manner..”
The partnership is the latest example of Rixonway’s involvement with community-based projects.
NJATC, based at Netherton, is the latest innovative social enterprise set up by international ethical trading charity The Lorna Young Foundation. It helps disadvantaged groups in the UK to learn about ethical trading. Products include tea, coffee, chocolate and rice.
The firm and its member groups are looking for like-minded corporate partners to buy its products and help with mentoring, in-kind support and extending their ethical product range.
