Don't waste this World Fair Trade Day!

The Shared Interest Society has been highlighting how much waste UK businesses create in the wake of World Fair Trade Day this Saturday 10th May.

As the theme for World Fair Trade Day 2008 is ecology, staff from Shared Interest collected rubbish from nearby offices and created products to display round their office to show how binned items can often be recycled or reused.

Shared Interest's environment team member Caroline Himmler said: "Fair trade products are often made from natural materials and organic produce and plenty of successful businesses even make handicrafts from the everyday stuff that people throw away - like drinks cans and sweet wrappers.

"We recycle as much as we can at Shared Interest but we wanted to mark this World Fair Trade Day's green theme by showing people the volume of waste that leaves an average office on a daily basis.

"Our creative results are now on display in our reception area as a reminder of what seems like a useless item to one person in one part of the world could be seen as a valuable commodity in another."

The world's only 100% fair trade lender, the Shared Interest Society has regional offices in Costa Rica and Kenya and helps over 40 countries across the globe to sell their handcrafted goods and produce fairly and justly. They currently have over 8,600 members who have accounts ranging from ￡100 to ￡20,000. Shared Interest is looking to treble levels of investments over the next four years, aiming for a total of ￡75 million by 2012.

Its sister organisation the Shared Interest Foundation is aiming to increase its current fundraising total of ￡100,000 five times over in the same period in order to fund training and education for the businesses the Society supports in the developing world.

More about Shared Interest:

Established in 1990, Shared Interest Society lends over ￡30 million from UK investors each year to businesses in developing countries, helping them sell their local produce and handcrafted goods in the fair trade market. Meanwhile, sister organisation the Shared Interest Foundation, delivers vital training to sustain their growth and survival in an increasingly commercial world.

With its head office in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England, Shared Interest also has international offices in Costa Rica and Kenya.

The Queen's Award winning organisation currently works with 41 countries to help them become part of the growing fair trade movement.

By making an investment of anything from ￡100 to ￡20,000, UK residents can for example help tea producers in Tanzania make use of abandoned plantations or fund business skills training for coffee makers in Uganda and much, much more.