Why choose sustainable palm oil?

Did you know palm oil is the world’s most used vegetable oil and can be found in many food, household and cosmetic items? The next time you’re in a supermarket, check a few labels on the food packaging, and you might be surprised to see how many items contain palm oil! The oil comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree and is produced either by squeezing the fleshy fruit or crushing kernels.

You’ll find the majority (85%) of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, our soaps contain ‘segregated’ palm, so it’s 100% traceable from only two locations worldwide, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. These are places where endangered species such as Orangutans, Rhinos and Tigers do not live. We were planning to take a trip to visit the plantations and meet the palm producers before COVID hit, but this sadly was put on hold.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), formed in 2004, sets best practices for palm oil production and sourcing standards throughout the supply chain. We are a proud RSPO member and fully support their efforts to promote the use of sustainably sourced palm oil. To learn more about this initiative and to check out our progress, follow this link: www.rspo.org.

Before the pandemic hit in early 2020, the team travelled to the North of England to visit a palm oil refinery. We met our supplier, who explained the need to work closely with every aspect of the supply chain to ensure the integrity of responsibly sourced (RSPO certified) palm oil. Our palm oil supplier works with teams to help smallholder farmers to improve their crops without further deforestation. They’ve also set up a charitable organisation, NPBOL, to provide additional housing as well as educational and medical needs to native communities who rely on palm to survive. 

When developing our ethical brand, ‘Ministry of Soap’, we wanted to ensure it was as environmentally friendly as possible, and ingredients were a key consideration. This is why we chose sustainable ‘segregated’ palm oil, and with our new manufacturing capabilities in Somerset, we’re now able to bring all of our soap manufacturing in-house. As we make soap for ourselves and other brands, that’s a serious amount of soap (over one million bars)! Look out for RSPO certification on the packs of our soap bars; it contains the RSPO logo and our unique license number. 

According to Chester Zoo, research shows that the average carbon footprint of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil is 36% lower than that of non-certified palm oil.

If you’re reading this, you’ll understand it’s a highly debated subject with much media attention in recent years. Just think back to the famous Iceland ad with the orangutan! Palm oil production has been linked to deforestation – destroying biodiverse habitats of endangered species, exploiting native communities, and ultimately climate change.