Environmental Impact

What's the deal with the different wax types and does it actually matter?

It does! Each wax type has pros and cons. While many believe soy wax is in fact the best of the bunch it still has the impact of deforestation through it's process. Let's look at the different types and why we selected soy wax as the lead here.

Beeswax! The biggest problems with beeswax is that it is the most expensive wax and contributes to the loss of bees, which hurts agriculture. Although this can be considered the best wax of all options, some companies do use bleach to take the beeswax from that golden color to white. While it sounds easy enough to take the beeswax that is produced we wanted to be a vegan friendly company as this would be considered an animal by product it would not work for us. We are definitely not about animal cruelty either. The bees make their hives, combs and honey for their own ‘families,’ not for humans to take.

Coconut Wax! Coconut wax is awesome! Make no mistake about that. It is also extremely expensive. Like boujee level! That would mean that the candles we make would hike in price which would then not allow us to donate as easily or actually have customers in our market range who could buy that type of candle. We would run into this balancing level with beeswax as well. Pricing can just be extremely tough and we do want to be accessible and we do want to make a positive change through a larger reach of potential buyers!

Paraffin Wax! Paraffin is considered to be just as dangerous as petroleum. So that’s a BIG no. The processes are also insanely impactful to the environment no matter how it’s processed. It’s also insanely impactful to lungs and people with asthma because of the toxins it omits when burned. All around it's a cheap shitty way for a candle company to explain that they have the best scent throw from chemicals and they also have the largest margins for profit.

Soy Wax! Soy wax on the other hand while it does have great benefits can also be tough on the environment (amazon forest for one). It’s non-toxic when burning, easy to clean off surfaces since it is water soluble, a renewable resource, and biodegradable. All amazing things but still as a company that does use this resource we have found that based on research and partnering for OneTreePlanted - we are one of the few companies that takes from the environment but also returns what we use. In the past year this far we have planted just about 500 trees for every candle that we did sell. Our hopes is that we exceed our wildest dreams and plant millions of trees and become one of the biggest supporters towards helping the environment.

Between all the options available soy wax was the best fit for us both morally and fundamentally. We know that it’s tough on the environment based on the processes but we do care about the fact that we use US produced soy beans (jobs) and give back what we can (hopefully more as we grow). We also wanted a safer option to those who are very animal aware as well as safety in the home for pets and people alike. Soy wax is just a small part of the process of what is produced when soy beans are cultivated. You have to imagine foods we eat, biodiesel gas, or skin care products that use soy are all apart of what becomes of this process. The more trees we plant through selling candles - the more we impact what we take even in fields we don't relate to as a candle company. 

Another reason we use wood wicks are the better impacts to the environment as well. The wood wicks we use come from sustainable forests as well as the company we purchase from is the same as us in the sense that with an amount purchased they also plant trees. A lot of cotton wicks contain paraffin to help them keep shape and burn which is also a reason we avoided that route. Even the cultivating and curation of cotton to make those wicks are impactful due to their processes.