What impact do our teas have on the environment?

At a time of international debate on the urgent need to change the way we live for the sake of the planet and its inhabitants, we need to take a fresh look at everything we do and start again from the beginning, namely with agriculture. You know that our teas and tisanes are organic and come from fair trade and small producers. But nevertheless, when you talk about tea, you are talking about an exotic product, which comes from far away and and is energy-intensive… Let’s talk to our sectors and product manager, Cassandre Maury.

How is Les Jardins de Gaïa committed to the environment?

Cassandre Maury: Les Jardins de Gaïa teas are all organic, and have been organic since long before it became fashionable to be so. Using organic and biodynamic products from small producers is second nature to us. Nowadays, following on from the COP21 climate talks, and in the knowledge that the chemicals used in agriculture are among the biggest contributors to global warming (including nitrous oxide which is 300 times worse than CO2), it is imperative that we put agriculture at the heart of our thinking!

There is much talk today of reducing packaging and reducing waste etc. But in reality, the nub of the matter, which in my opinion is not really being addressed in the ongoing negotiations, lies in the type of agriculture that we support. At Les Jardins de Gaïa we believe that family farming, and more particularly organic – or better yet biodynamic farming – is a massive and effective solution to the problem of global warming. In addition, it is an economic solution for the world’s farmers. Our teas come from this type of agriculture and this is an absolute guarantee of quality for us and not just from an environmental point of view, but also from the point of view of taste.

Would you like to know more?

• This is a very interesting article on the subject by Agence Bio http://www.agencebio.org/sites/default/files/upload/la_bio_et_le_climat.pdf
• 355 NGOs say NO to “Climate smart agriculture” http://www.climatesmartagconcerns.info/francais.html

Organic tea is one thing, but it is still a product that comes from the other side of the planet! So how do you go about it?

C.M.: In fact, transporting teas from different countries to our premises is an important issue. For the last two years, we have been working with a carrier committed to reducing carbon emissions: Green Supply Chain (GSC). Our teas arrive by boat in Antwerp or Rotterdam and are then loaded onto barges to get to Strasbourg. Only the last 50 kilometres of the journey is done by road. Since setting up this new operation, we have reduced our CO₂ emissions by 20%.

For more details, GSC published an article on our delivery route a few months ago: http://www.greensupplychain.fr/etude-de-cas-supply-chain-du-the/.

 So that reduces CO2, but doesn’t it still represent a significant energy cost?

C.M.: There is no doubt that drinking a cup of tea here in France when it has been grown on the other side of the world is energy-intensive, which is why we have opted for a voluntary offset. When each container arrives, we calculate the carbon emissions involved. Then it’s the Pur Project association which is responsible for helping producers with reforestation projects and/or the preservation of native forests. In two years, 100 trees have been planted.

What about the packaging?

C.M.: To be consistent, we carefully choose the packaging for our teas: we use large brown paper bags that are recyclable and/or recycled internally to transport raw materials; our business documents and other documents are printed on paper from sustainably managed forests (FSC/PEFC) and we use solvent-free inks on labels, our suppliers are in Europe and our packets are recyclable. The packaging is also our way of getting the message across about fair trade, organic, the origins of our products, supported projects, such as in the range of Militant Teas & Rooibos, and of course to advise consumers on the preparation and serving of their tea!

Thank you Cassandre!

Do you want to take this discussion further?

Have a look at the information on our website

Discover the heroes of climate change: the response of the fair trade!

http://www.solutionscop21.org/fr/?event=decouvrez-les-heros-du-changement-climatique-la-reponse-du-commerce-equitable