This article was sent to us by our Palm Wax supplier in 2007. 

"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 rainforest 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. "

Additional Links:

- RSPO website

- RSPO Memberlist

- WWF on RSPO