Soap makes you green

Soap makes you green

Ben Rooth, Manchester Evening News 4/12/2007

A SOAP manufacturer based in Ramsbottom has devised a winning formula to help prevent the wholesale destruction of rainforests.

Technicians at Kay's , based in Kenyon Street, have worked in partnership with leading cosmetics firm Lush to invent the world's first commercially available palm oil-free 'soap base'.

Global demand for palm oil - a major component of soaps and cosmetics - is currently fuelling the clearing of ancient rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia to make room for new plantations.

Lush is about to place its new range of palm-free soap, called `Greenwash', throughout its 88 shops and also has plans to use Kay's new soap base across all its other ranges by next year.

Alan Rogers, who part-owns Kay's, said that the new soap base could be worth £250,000 to the company over the next two years if it proves successful with Lush's customers.

"It took us several months to work out an a way of creating a natural base involving sunflower, rapeseed and coconut oils," he said. Sourced "Both sunflower and rapeseed oils are sourced from Europe and while the coconut oil comes from Indonesia and its production is not linked to the destruction of rain forests.

"We finally carried out successful tests in July and are delighted that the new base could help reduce the amount of rainforest that is cut down."

The family-owned business, which has been based at the same premises in Ramsbottom since 1885, was also the first UK company to produce `vegetarian' soap in 1970. Lush currently uses 250,000 kilograms of palm oil a year and the firm estimates that it will cost them £125,000 a year to switch to the new soap base over the next 12 months.

"Lush has always been proud of its ethical sourcing policies, and when our buying team witnessed the rainforest destruction in Sumatra first hand we recognized that immediate and drastic action was required," said Hilary Jones, director of ethics for Lush.

"We don't believe that palm oil can be sustainable at current levels of consumption, which is why we spent so many long months in the lab cracking the formula for a palm-free soap base.

"Lush's turnover last year was £144m and the firm has three shops in Manchester - in the Arndale Centre, the Trafford Centre and Market Street - as well as 85 stores across the rest of the UK and 495 globally.