The Use of Palm Oil

Whilst we use palm oil as an ingredient in our soaps, we at Refreshed are more than ever committed to the survival of rainforests worldwide and do not support in any way the destruction of these important ecosystems to pave the way for palm oil plantations.

The palm oil used in our soaps is sourced from long established plantations, the quantity we use is not considered significant or impacting on the demand for this raw material. No wildlife was injured, killed or had their habitat destroyed in the production of the palm oil we use.

The recent devastation of forests has become a world concern and new palm plantations have been created mainly to feed the bio-fuel industry. Unfortunately, the demand for bio-fuels has fostered an irresponsible farming culture by those seeking to cash in on this demand. The volume of palm oil for bio-fuels is in the millions of tonnes. It is processed and refined to the point that 1 kilogram of palm oil converts to less than 1 kilogram of bio-fuel.

Interesting to note - on average, a car tank of fuel holds a capacity of 50 litres (50,000mL) and lasts one week. In comparison, a bar of soap contains approx. 70mL of palm oil and can last a family two weeks.

Refreshed Managing Director, Greg Trevena, in fact established a native, multi-culture rainforest plantation back in 1998 just out of Byron Bay. It was grown completely free of chemicals.

It now is the home to much wild life, as there is a year round supply of a variety of native fruits. Also as the trees mature, a small number of homes for birds and reptiles have developed.