Here is an article provided to us from our wax supplier in regards to Palm Wax.
"When we first started working with palm wax a few years ago we were really impressed. It's grown on trees and picked rather than sown in a field and harvested, requiring much less energy and labor. And the palm kernel has one of the highest oil contents of any plant, so a lot of wax can be grown in a small amount of space. Its exceptional sustainability combined with clean burn, great scent throw, low price, non-GM, and beautiful appearance got us really, really excited about palm.
Unfortunately we soon read reports of vast areas of rain forest being clear-cut to build palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. Southeast Asia is home to some of the most bio-diverse ecosystems in the world. Losing these forests destroys the livelihood of native people and compromises the already sensitive orangutan, rhinoceros, and Sumatran tiger populations.
The health of the natural environment is of the utmost concern to us, and no matter how great the product, this wasn't acceptable to us, and we knew it wasn't acceptable to our customers either. So we took on the job of finding sustainable palm wax, and we are happy to announce we were successful.
After many many months of research, phone calls, meetings, and a trip all the way to Jakarta, we have partnered with a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. This organization was founded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and heads of government and industry involved in palm cultivation. The RSPO was founded to develop and define best practices for sustainable palm cultivation, and then help member organizations to implement and verify the procedures.
We are very proud to offer this product to our customers as a sustainable, non-genetically modified alternative to other waxes. If you are buying palm elsewhere, please contact your supplier and confirm that the wax you are using is not contributing to deforestation of these important habitats.
Further information about our Palm Wax
Palm wax is an all-natural, renewable resource that is obtained from the oil palm in well managed and regulated estates. Due to its environmentally friendly attributes, palm wax offers a whole new choice for candle makers who market sustainable or renewable resource based extensions to their candle lines. The oil palm produces fruit in bunches which are harvested and sent to palm oil mills to undergo extraction, sterilization, clarification and purification. The crude oil is then sent to palm oil refineries where it is processed further into products such as cooking oil, shortening, cocoa butter substitutes,
non-dairy creamers, soaps, and of course everybody's favorite – Palm Wax.
Palm wax is a superb material for making excellent candles. It resists melting in hot summer months, has high contraction (making de-moulding easier), takes colours easily, holds fragrance well, and best of all, can be easily manipulated to produce an infinite array of surface patterns ranging from complex crystalline designs to smooth solid colours.
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