By only using local beeswax not only do we reduce our carbon footprint significantly, and support local beekeepers, but more importantly we ensure our beeswax is free from chemicals and antibiotics used widely outside of the UK and Europe. It's not openly discussed but a huge proportion of the beeswax available in the UK for cosmetics is produced overseas. Globally India and China are the largest exporters of beeswax and antibiotic use to treat colonies is widespread. That combined with the fact the pesticides are poorly regulated in these countries can lead to a chemical cocktail of beeswax contaminants, which cannot be broken down or removed, being incorporated into your lip balm. There is a lot of information online regarding these issues and if you are at all interested, I suggest a deep dive into the origins of your cosmetics would be time well spent.
The packaging of our lip balms has been a subject which has caused us a lot of thought and we have tried many different types of container from the ubiquitous metal tin to glass jars in the past, but we never really felt that we were achieving our goal of minimising our carbon footprint. Both containers are fully recyclable but they require a lot of energy to produce and, presuming they actually get sent for recycling, even more to reuse.
After a lot of false starts we have finally developed a container we can be completely proud of and we are moving all of our production across to our new wooden pots as new batches are created. Our pots are made with the very latest technology and combine natural wood fibres with corn starch to create a robust little tub which is both light and strong. Crucially they are also the perfect size to post through your letter box so instead of using couriers for dispatch we can now use the efficiency of the Post Office to distribute our products.
As they are neat little wooden pots, we would sincerely hope that you would choose to reuse them once your lip balm has been used up. However, should they become surplus to requirements simply put them on your compost heap and nature will break them down naturally and return them to the earth from whence they came.