In 2019 we made it our mission to make sure that all ingredients in every single Dindi Naturals product were 100% palm oil free (as well as being bio-active and totally awesome!). We also started working with Orangutan Alliance to start the lengthy process of certifying our entire product range as 100% palm oil free too! 

so, what's bad about palm oil?

Palm oil is simply a vegetable oil that is collected from the palm fruits of two species of palm. This oil is incredibly cheap and fast to produce, so consequently huge swathes of pristine old growth rain forest is cleared every year to allow for palm oil plantations to produce this cheap to produce cash crop.

When bush fires are raging through our country burning down everything in their path we need to be putting our energy into actively regenerating forests globally, not supporting industry that is cutting them down at devastatingly fast rates.

Through the clearing of these incredibly bio-diverse rain forests, we not only lose our main weapon in fighting climate change (trees!) but we are also decimating these important eco-systems and endangering the lives of countless species of plants and animals that are being made functionally extinct at an alarming rate.

political pressure, consumer pressure and world events

Globally, palm oil is used in a huge range of industries, from the obvious culprits of the food and cosmetic industry all the way through to places you wouldn't expect, like the fuel industry. 

Political pressure, consumer pressure and world events can have a huge impact on the success or failure of the palm oil industry.  In 2019 China imported an approximate 7 million metric tonnes of palm oil from indonesia and malaysia, a huge increase from 2018 due to a swine flu epidemic that wiped out over 55% of their pig stocks. When the lard from the pig industry wasn't available to satisfy their market needs, cheap vegetable oil in the form of palm oil quickly took it's place.  

An example of political pressures effecting the palm oil industry is the recent law implemented by the Indonesian government to their bio-fuel production.  This new law states that all diesel production must now contain a minimum of 30% palm methyl ester (produced from palm oil), with Malaysia soon to increase their palm methyl ester percentages as well.

what can we do to help?

As a consumer we often underestimate the leverage we have on instigating change in industries that we purchase from. The UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) in their 2019 report, emphasised the need for consumers to "change their lifestyle and consumption patterns to more sustainable alternatives, specifically in areas they can control".