As I started my journey to zero waste, or at least reducing the amount of plastic I bring in my house, I started noticing articles here and there on avoiding palm oil, or I would see something advertised as "Palm Oil Free". I didn't know the first thing about what palm oil was or why it was even a concern. As I started to research, I was shocked, saddened, and even a little bit angry. OK, a lot angry about how this ingredient that seems to be in everything and the production of it causes so much harm. Harm, you ask? Yeah. It's not good. Let me explain.
See this cute baby orangutan and its mother? Every time deforestation of the rainforest happens to make way for palm oil tree plantations, where orangutans live, they are forced to find new homes. In doing so, they run into farners and others who either kill them or capture them to be sold as pets. Orangutans are a critically endangered species. It is estimated that there are fewer than 7,500 Sumatran Orangutans left. Bornean Orangutans are also critically endangered. Most palm oil is grown in Indonesia or Malaysia. It is in everything from candy to laundry detergent, shampoo, toothpaste, fried snacks like chips (crisps in the UK), just about all processed food, you name it. Anything that has "vegetable oil" in it, is most likely palm oil. Child labor and slavery is used in harvesting and producing palm oil. And it is not just the Sumatran Orangutans that are being driven to extinction by this deforestation. It is also rhinos, elephants, and many others living in the rainforest. Clearing the lands to make palm oil plantations also contributes greatly to the climate change problem because of emissions from machines used in the clearing. It also pollutes the air, as if ruining homes for the animals wasn't enough. According to Rainforest Action Network, PepsiCo is the largest user of palm oil in its snack products.
What can you do as an individual? Read the ingredients closely on all snacks, soap, detergents, and candy. If you are trying to live the zero waste lifestyle, you are probably already avoiding products packaged in plastic, which is what most snacks, candy, shampoo, and laundry detergent come in, so you are avoiding it in those. The hidden ones are things like salad dressings (even in jar containers), and even bar soap. Yes, I have found it even in bar soap. If you see sodium palmate, that's palm oil that has been saponified (made to be sudsy soap). Furthermore, palm oil is often marketed as vegetable oil, so you have to watch out for anything that says palm oil or vegetable oil on the label and avoid those.
My mistake this past weekend:
I was in the Dollar Tree and picked up two bars of soap in cardboard packaging. One was Shugar Soapworks, that uses RSPO certified palm oil growers (growers certified to use sustainable practices with palm oil) and the other was Blueberry Bliss Plant-Based Soap by Bolero Home Decor, Inc. I was in a hurry and just saw "plant-based", not even thinking about palm oil being from a plant. I didn't even look at the ingredients. Guess what? It has sodium palmate and sodium palm kernelate in it. A quick search on Google and I was able to find that lucky for me, they also use only RSPO certified sources. It was a moment of relief after a few moments of realization that it is just that easy to forget and accidentally support the wrong company. Now, I would rather purchase soap without palm oil at all. I just happened to be out of my personal stash and was in a hurry. If this happens to you, don't let it derail you. Just vow to do better next time. And for goodness sake, don't throw it out. If they already harvested and used the palm oil for me to throw out, then that is truly an even bigger waste and a harvest in vain. If you accidentally purchase or already have items in your house with palm oil in them, use them. Just be careful on future purchases.
Need bar soap, solid shampoo, or solid conditioner that is palm oil free? Check out the amazing variety in my store from Stahl Farms! Click here.
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