The innovators behind Australia’s first reef safe sunscreen is packaged in reusable and recyclable tins and Australia’s first vegan surf zinc, SunButter Skincare, have announced they will become the first sunscreen company in the world to be certified palm oil free.
Working closely with International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark (POFCAP) SunButter has removed palm oil from its supply chain ensuring none of the ingredients used in any of its sunscreen or skincare products is derived from palm oil.
“At SunButter we’re all about protecting people and the planet and if we’re including palm oil as an ingredient then we’re not protecting the planet, we wanted to make sure we live up to our ethos and mantra,” said SunButter Skincare Founders Sacha Guggenheimer and Tom Hiney.
Typically, consumers won’t see ‘palm oil’ listed as an ingredient on the back of their sunscreen bottle, it’s usually hidden behind the name caprylic/capric triglyceride, cetostearyl alcohol, glycerin and glyceryl caprylate.
“Sadly, it’s super complicated, because palm oil and palm oil derivatives are disguised under hundreds of different names,” said Hiney.
To complicate things further, finding transparency when it comes to supply chains is difficult and this might partly explain why no Australian company is currently able to say that their sunscreen is certified as free of palm oil.
“It’s really about encouraging brands to go palm oil free and support other palm oil free brands, we’ve been fortunate enough to go to Sumatra and see the devastating effects palm oil plantations have on the planet from deforestation and the disruption of soil carbon to the decimation of local animal populations, so talking about this certification is a great exercise in raising awareness about the use of palm oil in the cosmetic industry,” said Guggenheimer
SunButter encourages consumers to do their research, looking for items with a ‘palm oil free’ logo from the POFCAP, Orangutan Alliance, Go Palm Oil Free or POI Approved, which means they’re certified (rather than just labelled as ‘palm oil free’ by the company, which can be inaccurate and misleading).
“While the palm oil issue is a big one, there is a string of organisations doing really good work to get us back on the right path, and it’s important that we take personal responsibility and become more conscious in our buying habits as the less demand there is for products containing palm oil, the fewer products “While the palm oil issue is a big one, there is a string of organisations doing really good work to get us back on the right path, and it’s important that we take personal responsibility and become more conscious in our buying habits as the less demand there is for products containing palm oil, the fewer products containing palm oil there’ll be on the market.” said Hiney.