No such thing as 'sustainable palm oil' says Lush

Following a lot of head-scratching and talk about orangutans, Lush has closed the door on the debate over whether palm oil can ever be sustainable. The answer is a resounding 'no', and the chain is now working to remove it from its products.

As recently as three weeks ago, Lush's official blogger Ruth wrote a post that explored the issues of using palm oil and gives some useful tips on how to avoid it in your daily life. She seemed already convinced, following a visit to the Malaysian forests threatened by palm oil farming, that it should be avoided as much as possible, and the announcement that Lush has taken the stance long held by Friends of the Earth comes as no big surprise.

Since the cosmetics industry only accounts for 7% of the palm oil used worldwide, it's great that Lush is making the relatively expensive and inconvenient decision to find other oils to use in its products. At the moment, the oil (which, incidentally is the least healthy plant oil on the planet) crops up mainly in snack foods, including chocolate, bread and crisps as well as detergents and lipsticks.

Lush spent months working to develop a soap base without palm oil as a key ingredient, and in conjunction with the UK's oldest soap manufacturer, Kays Limited, finally developed a soap flake using a blend of sunflower, rapeseed and coconut oils. The first soap to be made using the new base was called Greenwash, and is available in Lush stores around the world now.

To mark the long-awaited decision, it has launched a new palm oil-free soap that has been named Greenwash to poke fun of 'all those who think planting a tree will actually offset the emissions from their weekend away flying to Sicilly, or to our government, who’s nearly drowning in a sea of oil and nuclear lobby, chained to the iron ball of economic growth." Wow. Well, I'm told it smells lovely...

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