Employees at Northamptonshire Waste Education Team selected Fairtrade polo shirts made from organically grown cotton as well as jackets with at least 25% recycled material content.

David Heathcote, Northamptonshire Waste Education Bus Coordinator, says: "We work primarily with the County's schools so it's important for us to practise what we preach. We try to use as many recycled materials in our work as possible.

"Choosing Fairtrade organic cotton polo shirts was a team decision based on ethics; 100% cotton garments can be composted and this is something we discuss in our education programme when talking about natural recycling.  Proximity to a supplier is also an issue.

"Cotton Roots is a local business and the only supplier to offer jackets made from recycled materials, giving us high quality for both garments and the embroidery we require."

The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership team is wearing jackets made from recycled fleece with the words "made with old pop bottles" embroidered on the back.

"It takes around 44 old plastic bottles to make one fleece," says Susan Waters, managing director of Cotton Roots. "The non bio-degradable polymer content of old bottles is broken down and then spun to make fibres suitable for manufacturing into fleece.

"This means that less oil is required to make the synthetic fibre and fewer bottles are put into landfill sites. Garments that carry the Fairtrade mark are made by workers who are guaranteed a fair wage and medical facilities under the Fairtrade certification scheme."

Cotton Roots sourced all the clothing and embroidered it with the relevant recycling logo and slogans.

Susan Waters is passionate about using ethical products for Cotton Roots' range of corporate clothing which includes not only fleece made from recycled bottles, but also caps. The Fairtrade range includes aprons, polyester-cotton shirts and organic cotton polo shirts.

Her commitment also extends to the way the company itself operates. All discarded fleece from Cotton Roots is sent for re-manufacturing into dog coats, bags used for packaging are biodegradable and the spare embroidery thread is given to schools. Even the company's old tea bags are collected to be used as fertiliser.

Cotton Roots has an ISO 14001 environment award and has been selected as a case study in excellent practice by the Centre for Re-manufacturing and Re-use.

"We're developing our range all the time so that we can help organisations to meet their corporate social responsibilities," says Susan. She plans to visit some of her suppliers this year in order to develop closer links with co-operatives and tailoring societies in India.

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