Many people ask us why we use soy wax and I guess I always mention the fact that it’s sustainable. I decided to do some further reading, because although I’ve read up on the benefits of soy wax, but this time I trailed through all the research myself, it actually led to some research that I hadn’t expected.
- Soy wax actually has similar emission levels to paraffin wax and was not significantly different in burning quality. There were however less formaldehydes present with both soy and beeswax. This study was conducted in Germany, by the Ökometric study in 2007. However soy wax was found to burn cleaner and slower, with less soot. Soy based candles use less oxygen, which means that air quality is higher in the home versus those burning paraffin candles.
- Paraffin wax gets a bad rap as far as pollutants go. Research shows that while they can release some compounds, they are relatively low with the current regulations around wicks and fragrance. The real issue is that It takes millions of years for plant matter to break down into petroleum compounds that are used to make paraffin. Mining of these products cause all kinds of environmental issues that are even further reaching.
- Soy wax on the other hand, is biodegradable and clean. If we want more, we can grow more. To be fair, soy wax does not come without controversy. There are some problems around land being cleared in the Amazon Basin and other regions of important growth for soy crops. We will keep an eye on this issue and try to support
- Trimming the wick ensures that candles last longer than their untrimmed friends. We aren’t all telling you to trim you candles because we’re trying to make more work! Research also found that the melt pool was deeper and more even with soy candles, however this means you need to be more careful that the wick doesn’t drop into the candle.
Reference Articles
http://candles.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2007Okometricstudysummary.pdf
https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/11/978-87-7038-009-6.pdf
