Information

What is palm wax?

Palm wax is a 100% natural wax produced from palm oil, which comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. The oil palm tree is nature's highest yielding oil crop, and grows in tropical areas of Asia, America and Africa. Palm oil is a major global food source, and is widely used in toiletries and cosmetics.

The palm wax used in Ashleigh & Burwood candles is of food grade, and is farmed from sustained and managed oil palm plantations in Malaysia. The palm wax does not come from any source which contributes to the destruction of tropical rainforest and wildlife habitats, and importantly, the producer is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which was established to promote the environmentally and socially sustainable production and use of palm oil.

Palm wax is an environmentally friendly alternative to paraffin wax. and unlike paraffin wax which is a petrochemical product with finite resource and well documented global environmental impact., palm wax is a renewable resource. A further advantage is that unlike soy,  which is also often used to make wax for candles, the oil palm is a non-genetically modified crop.

Palm wax is cleaner burning, produces less soot and potentially harmful emissions than paraffin wax and burns longer, with a whiter flame.

Unlike paraffin and soy wax production, production of palm wax is clean and uses no harmful solvents or catalysts. Similar to the production of olive oil, the fruits of the oil palm tree are simply pressed to extract the oil, and then distilled to produce the wax.