What is palm wax?

Palm wax is a 100% natural wax produced from palm oil, which comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. The oil palm tree is nature's highest yielding oil crop, and grows in tropical areas of Asia, America and Africa. Palm oil is a major global food source, and is widely used in toiletries and cosmetics.

Where does our palm wax come from?

The palm wax they use in their candles is of food grade, and is farmed from sustained and managed oil palm plantations in Malaysia.  Their palm wax does not come from any source which contributes to the destruction of tropical rain forest and wildlife habitats, and importantly, their producer is a member of the Round table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which was established to promote the environmentally and socially sustainable production and use of palm oil.

Why palm wax?

Palm wax is a 100% natural, environmentally friendly alternative to paraffin wax. Palm wax is from a renewable resource as opposed to paraffin, a petrochemical product with finite resource and well documented global environmental impact. A further advantage is that unlike soy, another often used wax for candles, the oil palm is a non-genetically modified crop.

Palm wax is also cleaner burning than paraffin wax, producing less soot and potentially harmful emissions. Palm wax candles burn longer, and have a whiter flame.

Palm wax production is clean and uses no harmful solvents or catalysts, unlike paraffin and soy wax production. Similar to the production of olive oil, the fruits of the oil palm tree are simply pressed to extract the oil, and then distilled to produce the wax.

Soy is another cleaner alternative to paraffin wax, however it is also worth noting that, aside from the concerns of GM issue, most soy candles are not 100% soy wax, and often include paraffin wax in the formula.