Our Ethical Policy
1. Rice Up is a workers’ co-operative. We reject the capitalist, hierarchical and exploitative practices of mainstream businesses and the use of money as power. Rice Up adheres to the co-operative principles, values and ethics. Rice Up members work for the collective benefit of the co-operative, the local community, and the planet as a whole. Decision making is by consensus.
2. Rice Up supplies only vegan products. All products and their ingredients shall not be tested on animals, or will have a fixed cut-off date since which they have not been tested on animals.
3. Rice Up will promote environmentally friendly products and practices wherever possible. Specifically, we will:
- Not sell GM food;
- Stock only organic fresh fruit and vegetables, with an emphasis on local, seasonal produce;
- Work to reduce, re-use and recycle waste and packaging, and use biodegradable packaging where possible;
- Avoid air-freighted goods where possible;
- Avoid products containing palm oil where possible;
- Supply environmentally friendly household products and toiletries;
- Work to reduce our consumption of resources, and to use renewable resources where possible;
- Repair and re-use equipment, or buy second-hand equipment, in preference to buying new equipment.
4. Choosing which products to stock often requires a compromise between competing ethical criteria. In selecting our products, we will take into account the following criteria:
- Whether the product is organic;
- The food miles of the product;
- Whether the product is fairly traded;
- The embedded carbon footprint of the product, for example whether the product is grown in a heated greenhouse;
- The type of packaging;
- Any other relevant factor relating to the sustainability of the product or the practices of its producer.
5. Rice Up will avoid trading with companies involved in exploitative, repressive, or socially or environmentally irresponsible practices where possible. Rice Up will aim to use the most ethical bankers and lenders available.
6. Rice Up will support organised boycotts of specific companies where such boycotts are in line with our ethics. Decisions on supporting boycotts will be made on a case-by-case basis.
7. Rice Up Wholefoods Limited will boycott products from the occupied territories listed below where these products are labelled as originating in the occupying country. The occupied territories are:
- Western Sahara, if products are labelled as originating in Morocco;
- Tibet, if products are labelled as originating in China.
8. Rice-up boycotts all Israeli goods in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, founded by Palestinian civil society, which calls for a boycott of all Israeli goods until such time as Israel complies with international law and respects Palestinian human rights.
Further details can be found here: http://www.bdsmovement.net/