Buy Responsibly

BUY RESPONSIBLY– programme for sustainable consumption

ekonsument.pl

“Buy responsibly” is the slogan of the Polish Green Network’s campaign for sustainable consumption. We undertake consistent and verified initiatives to encourage Polish citizens to rethink their consumer habits to make the world we live in a cleaner, fairer, safer and better place.

Since the start of our campaign in 2003 we show who and in what conditions manufactures products that we buy every day. We try to answer questions whether production of these goods did not lead to human and animal suffering or environmental damage. Together with you we look for ethical and environmentally-friendly alternatives.
To date we have implemented several countrywide education and information projects. We have released a number of publications tackling consumer issues, including: consumer guides, brochures for pupils, lesson plans for teachers, leaflets, posters, films and radio spots. We have organised several regional and national events (film shows, debates, fairs, happenings, exhibitions, festivals), a countrywide conference on the future of ethical consumption in our country and over 500 workshops for teachers and pupils.

Our current activities include:

A Walking Guide on Conscious Consumption – together with the Warsaw eFTe Group we prepared in 2008 a practical guide to environmentally-friendly and ethical places in Krakow and Warsaw. It is systematically updated and expanded (e.g. recently we have added places that favour responsible consumption in Wroclaw). Its on-line version is available at: ekonsument.pl/spacerownik. It includes:

• shops and cafes selling environmentally-firendly/organic and Fair Trade products,
• places selling handmade or recycled items or providing services in exchanging/repairing things that we use,
• other places that promote conscious, responsible consumption and that function in a sustainable way (cafes that organise information events, places organising free workshops, cultural events, film shows, debates, etc.)

3R Academy – this is a pilot educational project that promotes reduction of packaging waste, implemented since January 2009. The project’s aim is to develop and shape environmentally-friendly attitudes in handling waste among children and youth in Polish schools. We focus not only on informing about responsible behaviour when it comes to waste but first and foremost on activating young people in this area. This is why, together with partner organisations from Poland and the European platform of cities and municipalities for waste reduction “ACR+”, we have prepared an Educational Package for teachers that contains various lesson scenarios together with examples of exercises that encourage pupils to practically apply the newly- gained knowledge and undertake initiatives for the sake of their communities and environment. Apart from substantive information, the package contains also detailed guidelines on the project’s methodological and organisational aspects.

Buy Toys Responsibly – this is a part of a European campaign for better conditions in the toy industry, implemented since February 2009. Together with organisations from Austria, France, the Czech Republic and Romania we have a closer look on the toy industry, assuming that children would not like to play with toys produced at the expense of somebody’s suffering. We propagate information on abuses connected with toy manufacturing in developing countries (mainly in China) and suggest how consumers can influence toy companies in order to make them apply fair and good practices that are advantageous for the people that work in toy factories as well as for consumers. We also promote local, environmental production, development of creative powers in parents and children, traditional handicraft products from Poland as well as exotic Fair Trade toys.

Buy Clothes Responsibly – we started this campaign at the beginning of 2010. Together with organisations from Austria and Germany we not only draw attention of consumers and civil society to abuses that occur in the clothes industry but we are also developing the first Europe-wide, innovative training programme for the representatives of small and medium clothes enterprises. In the third year of the campaign we will focus on the development of the market for ethical clothes and organise the first in Poland fashion show of truly ethical clothes, combined with fairs and accompanying events. 
Since 2003 we have been running the internet portal ekonsument.pl. This is a practical on-line guide as well as a rich source of information on initiatives that shape the attitudes of responsible consumers. The portal provides access to our consumer guides, scenarios of workshops for children and teenagers, reports and promotion materials.

One of our strategic aims is to integrate the actors that are involved in the development and promotion of sustainable consumption in Poland and to encourage their cooperation at the national level. We are one of the founders of the Fair Trade Coalition and we act as its representative. The Coalition unites 14 organisations and companies involved in the development of Fair Trade in Poland. It acts as a partner for international representatives of the Fair Trade movement. Together with the Coalition Karat, Polish Humanitarian Organisation and the Warsaw eFTe Group we have established the coalition Clean Clothes Poland (CCP), which will transfer international initiatives of the Clean Clothes Campaign to the Polish context and organise its own activities related mostly to consumer education and dialogue with clothes companies. CCP will also support the development of the market for ethical fashion in Poland.

Year 2010:
We organised Fair Trade Spring Picnics within whole Poland, which through play allowed to explain the fair trade concept. We have been organising Fair Trade Picnics for You for several years now.

We organised several meetings, e.g. with the students of the International School of Costume and Fashion Design, the participants of Fashion Week Poland in Łódź and representatives of foreign brands that run responsible clothes companies. The participants of these meetings could see how to develop clothes that they wear or create without harming the environment or violating human rights.

We also went to Mauritius and Hong Kong to understand the problems that factory workers have to face in these countries. These visits reassured us that our activities make sense and that Your help is indispensable to achieve our objectives.

We organised three editions of the Sustainable Agriculture Festival WORLD ON A PLATE (Wroclaw, Krakow, Gliwice). Various film viewings, debates and events constituted an opportunity to explain the idea of sustainable consumption and how ordinary people can support its development.

During the SLOT ART Festival and the National Jubilee Jamboree of Polish Scouting and Guiding we organised games and activities that helped the participants to understand the ideas behind the “Buy Responsibly” slogan.

We encouraged several hundred consumers to participate in international PILNYCH URGENT APPEALS. This gave them an opportunity to actively influence corporate social responsibility policies.

We conducted active dialogue, at the international and national level, with such companies as Lego, Disney, SMYK and Carrefour. As a result, the companies realized that their customers care about the fate of workers manufacturing the products they buy. We also communicated with the International Council of Toy Industries.

Our representatives participated in various advisory bodies, such as the Corporate Social Responsibility Team, established by the Prime Minister at the Ministry of Economy or the expert group on responsibility in corporate supply chains within the Responsible Business Forum. We tried to influence the way in which company representatives and politicians understand the rules of corporate social responsibility.

Within the 3R Academy we continued workshop work with pupils, initiated in 2009. All in all, we conducted 360 meetings in 180 classes. We announced the competition 3R Academy – Through Journalist Eye in order to verify whether the children understood the topics discussed during the workshops provided by our team in 10 voivodships and the activating tasks led by teachers on the basis of the educational package. At the voivodship stage, we awarded prizes for 30 classes for the best and the most interesting work presenting the 3R rule in daily life. Winners of the voivodship stage qualified to the national stage. Finally, three classes whose input was assessed the highest received individual prizes and the main prize, i.e. trips to places of natural and cultural interest. The project’s pilot stage closed with a detailed evaluation of respective activities. Two interviews monitoring the project’s progress in classes and two questionnaires evaluating the implementation of the 3R principle in schools provided us with a lot of information that was later used in preparation of the report evaluating the project. At the dissemination stage, the conclusions from the evaluation were presented to over 700 teachers that we had trained during 30 trainings organised in 10 voivodships where we had worked for the whole year.

We regularly updated the website www.ekonsument.pl and facebook.com/kupujodpowiedzialnie. We strongly encourage you to visit these addresses. Join us!

Programme’s leader: Maria Huma maria@zielonasiec.pl

2010 activities within the Buy Responsibly Programme were co-financed by the European Commission (EuropeAid Programme), the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, NGO Fund (so called Norwegian Funds) and the Civil Initiatives Fund (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy).