ZeezBeez is keen to minimise its impact on Mother Earth. Becoming palm oil free is another step that we have taken in that direction. Palm oil is a really confusing and upsetting issue. News reports tell us about the destruction of the rainforest in such vast quantities it is difficult to picture the loss. You may imagine 300 football pitches in one hour, but what would a day look like, or a year? The death of animals, some driven to the point of extinction, and the effect on our fellow humans get ever more depressing. Sustainable Palm Oil seems to be anything but and is associated with all sorts of bad news, although any effort to redress the balance between commercialism and nature is to be welcomed. Palm oil does have its strengths and probably has a role when managed sustainably, but at the moment so little of it is. So for now, we don’t want to make matters worse. Until such time that Palm Oil is produced sustainably and ethically, we prefer to avoid it. Small stuff we know, but we would urge everyone to avoid using or consuming palm oil. A lot of small changes can make a big difference, particularly as momentum gathers.
In 2019 we became aware of the International Palm Oil Free Certification Accreditation Programme. They have scrutinised our products to make sure that they were genuinely palm-oil free and that none had sneaked in via its derivatives. We are delighted to say that all our products were found to be completely free of palm oil. In fact, we proudly supply the World’s first certified palm-oil free animal shampoo bars, and the UK’s first certified palm oil free soaps, shampoo bars, bath bombs and food wraps. How about that! We now have a certificate and can proudly display the trademark to demonstrate this and reassure our customers, whether that be for ethical or health reasons.
Please take the time to read the panel opposite and find out more about this worthy initiative.
The new International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark, a world first, has been approved to certify products in 20 countries around the world with more pending.
The Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark was developed to aid consumers in finding products which have been assessed by an independent, registered and approved Certification Trademark and found to be genuinely palm oil and palm oil derivative free. It was also developed to create a new funding stream to help our partner organisations on the ground working to protect rainforests and all they contain.
This certification trademark is product based not brand based, this means all brands who have one or more palm oil free products within their portfolio may apply to have their palm oil free products assessed and if successful have those products certified. If a brand’s entire product portfolio is assessed as palm oil free then they can use the certification trademark to represent their entire brand.
We will assist all applicant brands to find palm oil free ingredients (where possible) if we find, via the certification process, that one or more of their products contains a palm oil derivative. This will assist them to reformulate that product should they wish.
Manufacturing products to be palm oil free is quickly becoming the next ethical and environmental step towards true sustainability.
POFCAP’s World first Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark may just be the forerunner which sees an acceleration of the palm oil free movement globally.