Thumbs up: While the summer holidays may have only just got underway, parents and pupils are being encouraged to pass on and reuse any used school books by using the online "School Book Exchange" service.
Through www.schoolbookexchange.ie, parents can buy and sell second-hand books and make substantial savings. The book exchange programme has been running for three years and aims to increase access to second-hand school books for parents and students by enabling buyers and sellers to broker the books online. It is free to register books for sale. Buyers pay for the books online and the website then issues an automatic notice to the seller to post the books to the buyer. The website deducts a commission from the seller when the book is sold.
Fairtrade goes global
Thumbs up: Worldwide sales of Fairtrade-certified products grew by more than a third last year to 1.1 billion as more producers and major retailers started supporting the scheme. Some 508 producer groups across 58 countries are now certified to supply goods as part of the Fairtrade scheme. They receive a minimum price which covers production costs plus an extra premium for investment in their local community. An Oxfam spokeswoman described the growth in Fairtrade goods in the last 10 years as "phenomenal". She said it had "become an everyday thing, which we would never have imagined 10 years ago."
Ad's bad blood
Thumbs down: Flora breached advertising rules by saying its "pro.activ" spread kept blood vessels healthy, it has emerged. The brand's parent company Unilever couldn't back up the claims which appeared in the national press, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said. After an investigation, the ASA told Unilever not to run the advert again without making changes.
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