From Glastonbury Festival News 26 July 2011
The 2011 Green Traders Awards winners are…
“This year was the sixth year of the Festival’s Green Traders Awards, given by Glastonbury, Greenpeace, The Soil Association, The Fairtrade Foundation and Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS) to the traders who did the most to help make the Festival greener, fairer and more sustainable.
“Once again this year a team of Greenpeace volunteers trekked across the festival site interviewing traders, quizzing them about everything from: how they arrived on site, what their stall was made of; how much of their stock was Fairtrade, organic or recycled, and any other ethical criteria they proactively used to reduce their impact on the environment.
“… And the final award was given to Veggies Catering Co who received the Greenpeace Award. “For many years we’ve been trying to encourage all Glastonbury traders to be as green as we aim to be.”
Read full story, with details of other Award Winners (and well done to them all) at Glastonbury Festival News. Special congratulations to “the winner of this year’s Gold Award for food … last year’s runner-up No Bones Jones, who do vegetarian and vegan food”.
Veggies has been shortlisted in the Green Trading Standards scheme at previous Glastonbury Festivals and are 3-times winners of the ‘Best Vegan Caterer’ Awards.
Whilst we are delighted to have been recognised with this award, our mission is to reflect searching questions back to the festival itself, including…
Q. What are you selling that is Fairtrade?
A. Coffee, decaff coffee, hot chocolate, tea, redbush, herbal teas. For over 25 years we have never stocked other than fair trade teas and coffees, which are also organic where available.
… nor have we ever sold Cocoa Cola products, despite their being the nominated soft drink supplier to Glastonbury Festival.
Q. What other criteria do you look for when sourcing ethical goods?
A. We ensure that all goods are vegan. We follow the product advice of the Ethical Consumer Research Association.
Many consider Veggies Catering Campaign to be one of the most ethical on the circuit. Our policies are not a flash in the pan, they have been the cornerstone of our operation for over 25 years, drawn from our close involvement is supporting many campaigns for humans, animals and the environment.
Q. “Do you have any other suggestions for improving the sustainability of (Glastonbury) festival as a whole?”
A. Include concerns over the environmental impact of livestock products in all aspects of ethical and environmental planning and monitoring. Livestock products have been held responsible for significant amount of methane & carbon emissions. Whilst there may be debate over the detail, farmed animals compete inefficiently for food/feed, water and land resources, in a way which cannot be sustained if the global population were to adopt western patterns of consumption.
The rest of our submission to Glastonbury Festival Green Trader Awards in 2010 can be seen at our Ethical Policies page.
Read about all our other awards on our award-winning-caterer page
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