Candles Love Soy!

Everybody loves plastic. It seems like such an everyday necessity. I bet you can’t even go through one whole day without touching something plastic. A staple in our society, plastic is created by morphing certain polymers with toxic chemicals such as DiEthynolPhosphate (that’s probably not spelled right, the acronym is DEP) and other Dioxins (dioxins are the most TOXIC chemical on the planet).

There’s been a recent discovery that a lot of our discarded plastic has made it into the ocean, and circulates in the pacific ocean with the currents. Nicknamed “garbage island” [video 10 is especially informative], it’s a floating slop of photo-degrading plastics roughly the size of texas. One might not think much about that, saying “oh it’s contained in a group, and it will just disintegrate, right?” WRONG! Plastic never completely goes away.

When plastics degrade, especially in sea water, they absorb any toxic chemicals and pesticides that reside in the water. This means that the little tiny pieces of plastic are actually more toxic than ever. Now these tiny particles are entering our food chain. Eaten by small marine organisms such as jellyfish, or just plain small fish. The tiny “fish” are eaten by larger fish, which are eaten by larger fish, and then the large fish are being eaten by us!

Dioxins are responsible for cancer and birth defects. I see this as an epidemic with far-reaching effects, and a serious blow to the health of our planet and of our species (humans!).

What can we do? Recycle more and use less. Don’t buy water in 12oz bottles. If you’re going on a trip, or even at the office, buy a gallon, and pour it into re-usable aluminum “bottles”. Recycle your mayonnaise jars, catsup, mustard, bbq sauce jars, etc. Buy in bulk if you can to reduce the amount of plastic you consume.

At Caterpillars, we consistently recycle, and buy products that are made from recycled plastic and papers. You can recycle the green packing peanuts that your candles come packed in! Put them in a bag and send them to the plastic recycler. They are made from plastic that’s already been recycled so let’s keep the cycle going. (how many times can we say ‘recycle’ in an article? lol)

You can also recycle and re-use our jars! Roly poly jars make great sauce containers. Apothecary jars with those trendy silver lids are good for storing things like cous-cous or rice. Soy wax is washable with hot soapy water. If there’s a significant amount of wax hanging around in the bottom of your jar, scrape it out with a butter knife so it doesn’t go down the drain. Also, if you did a power burn (burning longer than the recommended time), and your jar has black soot, you can “buff” it off by using toothpaste (works great!). If you don’t need any jars in your home, then simply put them in the recycle bin!

There is an awakening happening amongst us, though we still have far to go. I hope you’ll share these tips and info with your friends and family as I just did.

Warm Candle Wishes!

Jen