Company Policies : the way we do what we do

• Phatalates
• Parabens
• Sodium lauryl sulphate
• Sodium laureth sulphate
• DEA, TEA, MEA
• Formaldehyde

We only use 100% natural and botanical ingredients always have and always will. Plus our packaging is recyclable and much of it is bio-degradable

Simply Soaps supplier of palm oil is a member of RSPO, Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, http://www.rspo.org which promotes the use and growth of sustainable palm oil.

As an ethical company we can assure all our customers that we work closely with our suppliers and vet their environmental standards and as palm oil is used in our soap making we will only use palm that is sustainable and ethically sourced.

Sustainable Business

That’s what we’re all about. Is there any such thing? We believe there is and must be. There are so many areas that still need working on but we’re doing our best. We do business in the best way we can. We take a holistic approach to our business; seeing it in the context of society, the environment and in economic terms. Sustainability is interwoven throughout our business practices and we consider the origin and final destination of everything we make and use.

The Environmental Dimension

• We minimise our use of finite resources
• We use 100% natural ingredients to make our skincare. This is better for us and the environment, limiting the processing and manufacturing required by our business and creating and end product which is gentle and nourishing to use.
• Our range is made through a cold process, low energy manufacture method. This not only preserves the health benefits of our ingredients but reduces the amount of energy used by our production process. We then cut and pack our range by hand. This ensures high standards and a unique product.

Who wants to be reliant on fossil fuels?

• We have biodiesel for our van,
• One shared company car
• A lift share scheme
• Electricity supplied by Ecotricity
• Energy efficient light bulbs
• A wood burner in the office for which we source dead wood from the surrounding woodland.

Waste not want not

• We minimise our use of packaging and packing.
• What we can’t do without we try to make recyclable or recycled.
• We print most of our stationary, catalogues and promotional materials on recycled paper. We use recycled paper in our fax machine and draft settings on our printers.
• We do not produce excessive marketing materials, send out unnecessary mail shots or promotional material
• As a small company we are able to effectively monitor our use of resources by promoting staff awareness. As we make things by hand and on a human scale it is easier to monitor our wastage.
• Our production processes use energy on a household rather than industrial scale as we make our lip balms in small batches on a stove rather than in industrial plants.

Nothing lasts forever; making things biodegradable and recycling

• Our range is totally biodegradable.
• Our manufacture process does not use or create or use any toxic, radioactive or persistent synthetic substances.
• As our range is totally biodegradable it will not harm the environment no matter what stage it enters the eco system. Due to their lack of preservatives our range will decompose organically in time.
• We have a soak away for grey water from the workshop and a compost toilet for staff and visitor use.
• We recycle 85% of our office waste. Shredding it to use as packing. We dispatch all our orders in 100% recycled, biodegradable packing.
• We use minimal packing, using only what is absolutely necessary. We try to keep it simple. We supply our soaps mail order in nothing more than a brown paper bag. For our creams we use simple recyclable glass jars. The recycle symbol is clearly displayed on these.
• We have sourced a transparent polythene wrap for our soaps which is made from potato starch.
• This year after consultation with the Energy Savings Trust Anglia Advice centre we have looked at how we could minimise our emissions and then offset the remainder from our electricity, gas and transport with Climate Care, We have been ‘Climate Neutral’ in these respects since august 2005

Supporting organic and local agriculture

• We use organic herbs and spices in our range. Organic agriculture has repeatedly been shown to encourage biodiversity well over and above conventional agricultural practice. It is less polluting and has been found to be environmentally more sustainable than conventional agricultural practice.
• We ethically source as much as we can. Many of our suppliers are registered with the soil association, have fair trade affiliation and good equal opportunities policies- in this way we use our purchasing power to support initiatives which benefit us and the environment.
• We are looking into locally sourcing some of our ingredients- it is an area we feel we could improve. We will be looking into that this winter. Maybe some Norfolk lavender, the county is famous for it after all.

Simply Soaps would like to make it clear that we are on no way linked to "Accantia Health and Beauty"