Ethical Tea Partnership

It’s impossible to care about tea without caring about the people who make tea. We’re proud to be a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation which works to improve:

• Tea sustainability
• The lives of tea workers
• The environment in which tea is produced.

Our tea gardens are regularly monitored and audited by the ETP, who checks them against the following standards:

Worker’s Lives

• Freely chosen employment
• Freedom of association
• No child labour
• Fair wages
• Fair working hours
• No discrimination
• Regular employment
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures

Sustainability

• Environmental management systems
• Soil, ecosystem and water conservation
• Energy use
• Waste management
• Agrochemical safety

The ETP provides training for tea farmers to improve health and safety and environmental management, and partners with charities to tackle local issues such as child trafficking and wages. They helped to narrow the gap between current and living wages in Malawi by 20%, and worked with UNICEF to establish crucial Child Protection Committees in tea estates.

The ETP’s work focuses on tea estates and tea trading, so doesn’t cover our fruit and herbal infusions. For infusions our suppliers work under the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, which ensures that all of our products are produced in a sustainable way.