Finding organic non-toxic candles produced through regenerative agroecological farming will hopefully soon be a norm as the food sovereignty and food justice movement gains force.
When we think about our lifestyle products, we don’t often think about the base ingredients which form them. Yet every object we use is made from ingredients derived from the earth. And how those objects are farmed matters.
Whether a candle (or product) is touted as cruelty-free, ethical, sustainable or zero waste – it is likely – when you look at the circular story behind it seed-to-wick, to not be as green as it claims to be.
Due to our disconnection from the natural world, exploitation in the creation of products has become the norm. Whether it is farmers inhaling agrochemicals to produce monocropped GMO soybeans for the soy wax candle industry. Or people in factories working under cruel conditions for wages which don’t come close to covering their base physiological needs. Or us consumers, breathing in paraffin wax (a toxic byproduct of petroleum) as we try to hygge our homes. The entire system needs reworking.
Luckily, there is a solution available, found in the Indigenous Knowledge which has shaped regenerative agroecology practices. This type of farming mimics the rhythms of the natural world. Resulting in increased biodiversity, enriched soil, improved watersheds, and mitigation of global warming. Leaving the earth and its people better off for the fact some harvest for conscious consumption has occurred.
To support this regenerative future, I have handpicked a few organic beeswax and tallow candles. Which are byproducts of regenerative farms, rewilding projects and gardens. Each brand listed is a small business, producing ethically, with their efforts concentrated on relationships of reciprocity.
REGENERATIVE ORGANIC TALLOW CANDLES
WHAT IS TALLOW? For thousands of years, tallow has been used for cooking and as the raw material for candles and soap. Tallow is made from the ‘waste’ fat of animals. Using the waste products of food creation mirrors indigenous ideologies which have existed since time immortal. Showing respect for life taken by honouring and utilising every part, nose-to-tail.
When tallow is procured as a byproduct of regenerative organic farming, it creates a ‘zero-waste’ product whose ingredients enhance biodiversity and aid in carbon drawdown during cultivation and is biodegrade at the end of their lifecycle. In fact, they can even be climate beneficial.
SUMMER SOLACE
credentials | woc-owned, regenerative, upcycled, USA grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, hand-poured in the USA, lead-free biodegradable wick
burn time | 40+ hours
price | from $8.00
Using organic tallow from pasture-raised cows in California, alongside organic calendula, 100% local beeswax, and organic essential oil of cedar, Summer Solace Tallow creates beautiful candles which burn for 40 plus hours
SHOP SUMMER SOLACE TALLOW CANDLES
WHITE OAK PASTURES
WHITE OAK PASTURES
credentials | regenerative, upcycled, USA grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, hand-poured in the USA, lead-free biodegradable wick
burn time | 40+ hours
price | $8.00
White Oak Pastures is a zero-waste regenerative agriculture farm based in the United States. Their candles are made from the tallow of holistically mob grazed beef, their own farm’s beeswax, and ethical essential oils. The farm wastes nothing of the animals they rear, which sequester more carbon than they emit in their lifecycles due to the holistic planned grazing practised, a principle of indigenous agroecology.
SHOP WHITE OAK PASTURES
REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES
How Are Beeswax Candles Made? Most regenerative farms and gardens who follow the practice of mob grazing, or who care for diverse annual and perennial plant crops, harvest beeswax and honey as well. Bovine and ruminant holistic grazing, as well as crop diversity, enhances biodiversity, creating a positive environment for bees and strengthening their populations, which in turn encourages more plant life through pollination. Be sure to buy from smallholder farms, as not all bees are kept with the same care. Look for 100% organic beeswax at the very least, as and larger beekeepers often don’t produce responsibly.
If you can’t find something online local to you, ask around at your local farmer’s market following Kiss The Ground’s regenerative purchasing guide HERE. Below are a collection of a few small regenerative organic beeswax candle makers I found online.
THE FUTURE KEPT
credentials | regenerative, UK grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped. burn time | 20+ hours price | £12.00
Handmade and hand-dipped in the UK from sustainably sourced English beeswax from London’s rooftops to the moors, the future kept’s candle collection is simple, scent-full, and sustainable. They also sell eco-friendly beeswax birthday candles.
SHOP THE FUTURE KEPTS BEESWAX CANDLES
BROOKFIELD FARM
credentials | regenerative, Irish grown ingredients, organic, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped
burn time | 40+ hours
price | €12.00
Created on the award-winning Brookfield Farm in Ireland, the hives which produce both honey and wax are harvested from bees who pollinate 3 hectares of wildflower, blackberry, tree blossom and organic clover meadows. Each candle is hand-dipped with wax from their 100% Irish farm hives on the shores of Lough Derg in County Tipperary and they sell hand-dipped dinner or birthday candles, and hand-poured candles in frosted glass.
SHOP BROOKFIELD FARM’S REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES
PIPERS FARM
credentials | regenerative, UK grown ingredients, organic, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped
burn time | 40+ hours
price | £6.00
Made in Alston in Cumbria, these beautiful candles are crafted by hand using the dripping method of candle making which has been essential for centuries to life in the country. The bees who create the wax are housed on a regenerative farm owned by Ted Thompson.
PIPERS FARM REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES
UNDER THE SUN HONEY
UNDER THE SUN HONEY
credentials | regenerative, organic, sustainable, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-poured
burn time | 40+ hours
price | $15.00
Pure beeswax harvested from the Allegheny Mountains. Organically produced beeswax candle produced through regenerative agriculture and hand-poured in small batches.
SHOP UNDER THE SUN ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES
** PLEASE NOTE: At present, there are no candle producers using rapeseed wax, canola wax, coconut wax, or bayberry wax who can trace their supply ingredients to a regenerative or agroecology farm. If you know if any or are a brand producing with a traceable supply chain rooted in agroecology, please email me hello@hollyrose.eco and I’ll add you in.
I HAVE EXCLUDED SOY WAX BECAUSE IT IS NOT SUSTAINABLE OR ECO-FRIENDLY There are a number of issues with soy wax candles. First, most soy is grown on an industrial scale has a multitude of negative environmental and socio-economic impacts, including pesticide use, and deforestation. Soy wax requires intensive chemical processing to bring the soybean to oil form. First, it is turned into oil through hydrogenation, then that oil is refined and bleached and chemically distilled with hexane. Once distilled, it is bleached with chlorine, deodorised with boric acid and then hydrogenated again to be turned into wax.
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