On Wednesday 6th June the committee of the North Laine Traders Association in central Brighton selected a fair-trade organic cotton bag supplier, Supreme Creations, and chose a design for our sustainable bags.

The bag project was first suggested by members in 2006 and local trader and NLTA committee member, Eddie Start has worked to source ethical suppliers and has produced articles for our newsletters.

Our aim is to make our customers realise that you cannot continue to receive plastic bags each time you purchase items - British shoppers annually use 20 billion bags - that's 350 per person, which eventually end up in landfill sites. The NLTA is not banning plastic bags - we are simply trying to persuade our customers to be more conscious of their actions and reuse bags.

Three local artists, NLTA members, put forward designs and the winning artwork is at the top of this page. The first consignment of bags will arrive in August, by sea, slow but much more environmentally friendly than air freight. Samples will be distributed free to our members and the association will then collate orders and purchase a larger quantity of sustainable bags for the busy Christmas period.

Peter Stocker, secretary of the NLTA said -
“We have worked long and hard to come up with a durable fair-trade cotton bag which we hope will used again and again by our customers. The NLTA has always tried to promote best practise and come up with innovative, practical solutions for our members.”

Contacts;
Chair – Sharon Thomas
Off Beat Coffee Bar
37 Sydney Street, Brighton
Tel. 01273 604206

Secretary- Peter Stocker
The Workshop Pottery
94 Trafalgar Street, Brighton
Tel. 01273 601641

Eddie Start
Open Spaces
69 Trafalgar Street, Brighton
Tel. 01273 600897