First stop: the Central Market, home to a few health shops. Result: not a bar of palm oil-free soap in sight. One store did, however, did make a photocopy of my Borneo Orangutan Survival shopping list, so that it could investigate potential suppliers.
Searching online did reveal one local producer that does not use palm oil in any of his soaps. Alex's Handcrafted Soaps proudly states that
out of respect for the endangered Orang-utan and their habitat I do not use palm oil in any of my productsEcolateral is the closest supplier. Upon arrival I was dismayed to see that the majority of other soap products in the shop contained palm oil, but Alex's Handcrafted Soaps were also available. Having expressed my concern at the presence of palm oil soap (and pointing out why sustainable palm oil is anything but sustainable), I made my purchase of a couple of bars to try.
As it turned out, a second option turned up unexpectedly: at my local Oxfam shop I spotted a palm oil-free soap whilst purchasing some Fair Trade palm oil-free chocolate - Sindyanna Olive Oil Soap, produced in Israel and the West Bank by Arab farmers. Excited as I was by this discovery, trying to explain to the friendly woman behind the counter that there was an additional benefit beyond fair trade ended up being a frustrating (and ultimately futile) exercise. As much as I tried to explain, she appeared to be incapable of appreciating that there could be a second benefit. Oh well.
So far, so good with Alex's soap. It lathers and washes well, but the first variety is a little soft, meaning that it is disappearing at a far faster rate than I would like it to. Tomorrow will be the first test for the Palestinian olive oil soap.
Hmm... I have no idea if you will see this comment or not, but I thought I'd try and let you know that Country Life soap is palm oil free.
ReplyDeleteI believe it has been for more than a year.
Also, the Orange Power cleaning brand is now palm oil free.
Slowly the market is catching on, but still far too slowly.