Halcyon Agri, the natural rubber company, has launched Bounce, a movement to drive industry and consumer change for an equitable natural rubber industry.

The supplier said Bounce was a call to action for suppliers, manufacturers and stakeholders to develop and adopt a set of sustainability standards for natural rubber production. The movement also aims to increase consumer awareness of how natural rubber is made – and to encourage them to demand a sustainable option when purchasing rubber goods.

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Natural rubber is a staple component in consumer goods and consumed daily by billions worldwide. However, its journey from rubber tree to consumer is poorly understood by most, the company claims.

Demand for natural rubber reached 14m tonnes last year, with 92% of that volume produced by 6m subsistence small farmers across South-East Asia and Africa. Unsustainably low rubber prices have put immense pressure on those famers and the natural environments they work in – which has left the rubber industry in disarray, verging on collapse.

An outdated pricing system, severe pay inequality in the industry and underinvested and uneducated farming practices have left many smallholders facing financial ruin, having caused significant deforestation when prices were excessively high only a few years ago.

To address these issues, Bounce proposes six key changes for the industry to adopt each anchored by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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These changes are:

  • To pay farmers at least their domestic minimum wage
  • To factor production costs into the price of natural rubber
  • To invest in innovation and digitisation
  • To support a transparent and sustainable supply chain
  • To incentivise farmers to fight climate change
  • To encourage sustainable farming practices

Robert Meyer, CEO of Halcyon Agri said: "When buying almost any other product, consumers have a sustainable or fair-trade option to consider – and increasingly they are making that choice.

"The end goal for Bounce is to be a hallmark for sustainable rubber produced in a fair and equitable manner to all supply chain participants. This will allow the producers of products that contain natural rubber to carry the Bounce hallmark all the way through to the final consumer who can in turn make an educated choice.

"Change needs to happen now – before the supply side is damaged irreparably. We cannot go this journey alone and today we call on all rubber players, on civil society groups who have helped our industry self-regulate, and on consumers, to help us initiate that change."