Sustainability in our Beekeeping
By Localizing our Bee Equipment as well as our Beekeeping Management we are able to lower the negative effects to our Aruba environment. We use recycled wood to build our Bee Boxes and we can reuse our boxes for future hives, meaning we do not need to import new boxes whenever we need to house a new hive. We use wood, which is already a biodegradable material, to house our bees. Our bee stands, where we put our boxes, uses corrugated roofs to give shade and protect the hive boxes from the sun’s intense rays.
Sustainability in our Products
Besides our practices of sustainability in our Beekeeping we are also sustainable in our product packaging and ingredients. We use no plastic packaging, only tins, glass or paper. It is important to us to create products that are not only organic for your skin but will also be disposed of in a way that is healthier to our environment. Packaging that uses plastic such as Lip Balm Tubes are detrimental to the environment since they will take a very long time to break down. Our environment should not pay a price for convenient packaging. We also do not use essential oils just for their smells. All our products that use essential oils are there to benefit your skin. In fact, most of our Soaps carry no smells at all, just the smells of the organic ingredients that serve a purpose to your skin.
Concerns about Palm Oil
Palm Oil is an interesting topic. Palm trees, where the Palm Oil is derived, are grown in many tropical regions around the world. We acquire our Palm Oil from Colombia. We do this for two reasons. Reason number one is because they are the only country in the world that grow Palm Trees in land that has been grazed over by cattle, meaning they do not tear down forests to grow Palm Trees. The second reason is because it is geographically closer to us so our Carbon footprint will be minimized. Using Palm Oil is also beneficial in terms of not needing to use multiple plant oils to accomplish the same properties that a Palm Oil can achieve. By reducing the consumption of multiple oils we can also reduce the pressures of our already pressured environment.
Handmade and Packaged locally
In all our products we strive to use at least one local ingredient. As you can imagine, learning to work with local ingredients in our products takes time. We feel that in order to be a responsible local company we have to show that our local ingredients can be beneficial and medicinal. By using local ingredients we can not only reduce our Carbon Footprint but also create a micro industry focusing on one day exporting. Besides making our products locally we also package and deliver them ourselves. We hope in the future to be able to hire local community members to help us in the packaging and delivery of our products.