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You are here:Home > Why don't I use palm oil?
Why, you may ask, am I taking the time and trouble to stop using palm oil and find alternatives for my natural soaps? Well its very simple really......

Palm oil companies are grabbing what forest they can in the most frighteningly greedy and destructive way they can. They are doing this as quickly as they can too. Countless documentaries have shown thousands of hectares of bare, barren land where palm oil companies have bought licenses to log forests and turn them into plantations regardless of who or what already lives there. Orangutan habitats in Sumatra and Borneo are being clear-felled at an incredible rate for conversion to oil palm plantations and quite simply that means that 50 of these wonderful creatures, so close to man, are dying every day because their habitats are being destroyed and their nests burned.



A FEW OF THE FACTS I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT HAVE CONVINCED ME

  • Rain forest destruction is out of control.  Currently an area of forest equal to 300 soccer fields is being destroyed every hour in Indonesia.
  • Fires burn across Borneo and Sumatra, feulling global warming (Indonesia is the third highest carbon emitter in the world due to peat land fires)
  • Both Orangutan species are within 20 years (some say as little as 15) of extinction in the wild, up to 50 are being killed everyday.
  • Supply and demand pressures are driving the production of palm oil up to an all time high.  Palm oil is now the second most widely produced edible oil.  Palm oil is found in many everyday products (often hidden or called 'vegetable oil') including biscuits, crackers, batters, chips, shampoo, skin care and beauty products, various varieties of pet food to name a few.  It is found in a wide array of products sold in natural food shops too.  Palm oil is also used as a bio fuel and the demand for this fuel alternative is adding to the problem.
  • Social conflict and human-rights abuses are commonly associated with palm oil expansion with local people being driven from their homes.
  • Severe environmental pollution is associated with palm oil processing.
  • Lack of labeling means lack of choice in consuming palm oil.  An investigation in 2009 found that palm oil - often obliquely labeled as 'vegetable oil' was found in 40% of the best selling groceries.
  • The cosmetic industry uses 6-7% of the global supply of palm oil.  Lush, along with other leading makers, has already decided to stop using it altogether.
  • There is very little authentic sustainable palm oil on the market.


You may have heard about a global initiative aiming to bring together consumers and processors of palm oil called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), it is believed to have certified enough plantations to produce 1.75 tonnes of sustainable palm oil already, sadly only 15% of this oil has actually been sold.

As it is almost impossible to ensure that the palm oil available is really from a sustainable, ethical source I believe the only sound approach is to avoid palm oil altogether, it is so easy to get conflicting advice and feel you are doing the right thing when there is no proof that the oil you are buying is truly sustainable.  I have been trying hard to source a good sustainable supply of the oil but have had no success.  I believe that my new palm oil free recipes are wonderful, in fact I think my soap is now better so its a win-win situation for Naturally Made Soaps.

The World Wildlife Fund has recently published its Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard and it makes frightening reading.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/palm_oil/solutions/responsible_purchasing/palmoil_scorecard/

Sainsbury's, M&S and Unilever (which alone accounts for 6-8% of total world production of palm oil) are doing well and sitting relatively prettily in the top five.

Morrisons, Waitrose, Nestle, IKEA, Lidl UK and Boots on the other hand appear in very low positions, much, much further down.

Brands often claim they source sustainably wherever possible.  In this instance IT IS possible, yet the majority of the 59 companies investigated had elected not to use sustainable palm oil.

It is important that we put pressure on them to change immediately.

THERE REALLY IS NO MORE TIME FOR ANY MORE OILY EXCUSES