We use honey or beeswax in most of our non-vegan products for both their superior cosmetic properties and because they come from our Community Trade partners. Our honey is from Ethiopia and our beeswax is from Cameroon; both are organic, wild-harvested and from sustainably-managed sources, where we have long-standing relationships with our partners. In both cases, the bee communities are carefully managed to ensure they continue to thrive.
A very small number of our products also use shellac, which is a secretion of the lac insect Coccus lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand; and lanolin, an oil extracted from sheep???s wool. Neither of these processes harms the animals in any way. We are now moving away from using any animal-derived products, apart from our Community Trade honey and beeswax, and we have not created any new products using lanolin or shellac for some years.