Palm oil: What do your Easter eggs contain?
Easter is almost upon us – queue many people of ALL ages tucking into one, two or maybe more chocolate Easter eggs across the weekend. But first things first, how sustainable are your choices?
I’m sure many of you will have heard about palm oil before, however just to refresh your memory – Palm oil is a widely used vegetable oil found in many household products, some of which you will find surprising. Items such as cosmetics, bio diesel, detergent and many food products – including chocolate, all contain palm oil.
SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH PALM OIL?
If you’re a fan of David Attenborough documentaries, you may already know the issues surrounding the use of unsustainable palm oil. Palm oil is a very useful and well used product. It is particularly important in third-world countries where many communities earn a living from farming it. However, producing it unsustainably is having a massive impact on our wildlife. Habitats of species such as orang-utans, tigers and elephants are being destroyed so that the land can be used to farm palm oil. So much so, that the population of these species is declining rapidly, and if we don’t act now, these species could become extinct in the near future.
WHAT CAN YOU DO THIS EASTER?
This Easter choose sustainably. Companies who use sustainable palm oil pledge that they will not clear primary forest, their supply chains will be transparent, they will check how much carbon they are emitting, they will limit planting on peatlands and create wildlife zones.
Make informed choices by checking the packaging of your Easter eggs whilst you are shopping and look out for the sustainably sourced palm oil label. Favour those yummy chocolate treats which are sustainably sourced and question companies who don’t by contacting them and asking them why.
Top tip: download Giki Badges, the pocket friendly app to help you make sustainable choices whilst you are shopping. It’s very simple – all you need to do is scan the barcode of the product to see what ethical credentials it meets. The app will even suggest alternative products to purchase if they don’t meet the criteria.
Happy shopping and happy Easter!
Let us know which sustainably sourced Easter eggs you find this year!