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Dr. Bronner's uses palm oil in its bar soaps. The palm oil content of some 40% by weight gives the bars hardness, balances the lathering power of coconut oil and keeps the soap from softening and dissolving too fast.
We switched to exclusively purchasing certified organic palm oil in 2004. Yet, as for our other key raw materials we wanted more: full transparency and control of the social and environmental impacts of our palm oil to make sure everyone along the supply chain is treated fairly. Thus, we started in 2007 our own organic and fair trade palm oil in Ghana. It now supplies all our Dr. Bronner's palm oil need. In addition, it supplies a growing number of companies that share our vision of a fair and sustainable production.
The project is coordinated by Dr. Bronner's Ghanaian affiliate Serendipalm Co. Ltd. and operated by our partner Danieama, a group of local entrepreneurs. We buy palm fruits exclusively from some 300 small family farms in Ghana's
Eastern Region. These farms were developed without the recent large-scale destruction of rainforest and eviction of primates from their natural habitat that is common with many of the recent large-scale oil palm plantations. We pay fair farm-gate prices to our farmers and support them with organic inputs and training on organic agriculture. The intent is to help farmers increase soil fertility, productivity and thus long-term profitability of their farms. The now 150 workers in our oil mill, primarily local women, enjoy working conditions and compensation uncommon in this industry – in an area that has few reliable jobs to offer to its growing rural population of non- and semi-skilled workers. |
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| Are Dr. Bronner’s Tropical Oils produced “sustainably”? |
Some of our customers are concerned that the palm and coconuts oils we use in our soaps may come from plantations that were established on recently cleared tropical forestland or otherwise contribute to environmental destruction. They don't.
As with any other crop, it's not what you grow but how you grow it. For one, all growers we purchase from are certified organic. This means that no agrochemicals are used (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides) and soil fertility is replenished by natural means - compost, manure, mulching with crop residues. The production of our oils also does not contribute to deforestation. The palm oil comes from about 2,500 acres of smallholdings in Ghana that were established decades ago and we support growers in improving palm fruit yields – thus getting more oil out of the same amount of land. Our coconut oil comes from some 500 small to mid size farms in Sri Lanka, most of which have been in the owners' family for generations. We encourage the growers to intercrop with other beneficial species and supply organic fertilizer at a subsidy. This improves soil fertility, yields and profitability of small farms – and allows them to compete with plantations.
By having our entire supply chain certified organic and fair trade we also want to demonstrate that one can produce any crop - and the products made from them –sustainably.
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The fair trade premium paid by Dr. Bronner's and other customers for the oil is used for a range of community development projects: drilling wells and installing tanks to provide community operated water systems, supporting a local clinic with critical equipment, providing school supplies to our staff's children. These fair trade projects, which are selected by a committee with broad-based representation, are great opportunities for targeted community development action for which there is no funds otherwise.
We believe that the technical characteristics of palm oil give it an important place in organic food and personal care products With global demand for palm oil surging and the realization that large palm oil plantations are not automatically "green," our project will expand in size and demonstrate that small-scale production of such commodities can be fair, profitable and sustainable.
This project also highlights Dr. Bronner's mission to foster exchange and professional links between our fair trade projects. Sri Lankan field officers visited the Ghana projects to participate in organic inspections and help improve approaches to extension work. Lawrence, our Ghanaian accounting supervisor visited our Serendipol project in Sri Lanka for training in accounting software. And Canaan Fair Trade, our partner in Palestine, is purchasing coconut and palm oil from our projects for its own production of soap. Hands-on participation of friends from Europe and the U.S. (architects, system designers and construction experts, for example) has created great opportunities for direct cooperation between people from the global North and South — while working up a sweat.
Update: February 2011,
Gero Leson
Director of Special Operations
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
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