London Thames Barrier / sugar & slavery policy (#0228)

Sometimes when researching a picture you come up with findings that are completely unexpected. I took this picture of a factory that is downstream from the Thames Barrier just because it looks to be one of the last of the major factories along the Thames near London. On looking up the company (Tate & Lyle), I found a surprising history.

The building here is Tate & Lyle’s sugar refinery, which started in East London in 1878 and appears to have been operating at this site since 1882. Their website describes a socially and environmentally responsible company, but what really stands out on their website is a very upfront section titled “Modern Slavery Act”. In that section they acknowledge that the cane for their sugar comes from suppliers in developing countries where labor and environmental policies are often very questionable and thus the company is taking steps to improve the conditions at their suppliers. I do not recall ever seeing such a detailed and explicit statement by a company about improving the work conditions of suppliers.

Source: www.tateandlylesugars.com/modern-slavery-act

(Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)