Ethical Purchasing Groups

Ethical Purchasing Groups (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidali or GAS, in Italian), a system where groups source directly from small, local producers that respect both the environment and people. The concept behind these groups is the “short supply chain”, which brings the producer and the final consumer closer together, both physically (favouring local farms), and functionally (cutting out the middlemen – wholesalers and retailers). In the case of Ethical Purchasing Groups, the supply chain is as short as it gets – the consumers buy directly from the producers.