The Natural Choice

A Wax Manufacturer’s View on Sustainability

We are proud of our heritage with natural waxes. British Wax was founded in 1914 as a beeswax supplier and refiner.

Over the last 100 years other sustainable waxes and natural wax blends have been added to our range alongside beeswax. In 2023 the percentage of renewable* materials sold was 81% (versus mineral/synthetic), based on total volume sold.

British Wax is dedicated to being the leading UK supplier and producer of sustainable performance wax solutions.

*Natural/Natural derived.

So what is sustainability?

We believe it is our collective responsibility to live on this planet without negatively impacting it.

We are passionate about sourcing fully sustainable, ethical, high quality raw materials, which provide our customers reassurance that our supply is traceable and replenishable.

This passion saw us set up a joint venture, The East Africa Wax Company based in Kenya supplying fully traceable beeswax from wild bee broods – find out more about our farmers, female beekeepers, social community initiatives at The East Africa Wax Co.

Our internal audit

Travel

We adopted work from home policy (when appropriate), we hire staff locally, and encourage the use of public transport whenever possible.

Transportation of goods

We encourage our customers to plan ahead avoiding air freight and suggest they consider maximising the weight per consignment – ordering bulk, less frequently.

Energy use

We opened a new purpose built energy efficient HQ and Production site in 2022.

We fulfill some of our energy needs with our roof solar panels and energy top-up is from 100% renewable energy supply.

Packaging

We assessed our own and our suppliers packaging.
Some of our suppliers have been willing to change their packaging, while in other cases, we have found ways to handle it better.
We continue to work diligently to reduce the amount of waste going to land fill, and have reduced the amount of packaging we are purchasing.

Raw Materials

We ensure our suppliers meet our Supplier Code of Conduct requirements (ETI based). New suppliers are checked before being onboarded.

Our Code of Conduct covers labour rights, local community support, anti-bribery and corruption, environmental impact, H&S policies and local law compliance.

We often make supply choices based on better environmental outcomes, i.e. organic v conventional, mass balanced v RSPO identity preserved, natural processing aides for improved H&S and environmental reasons.

As a business we strive to make better choices for our planet.

Our pledge to the SME Climate Hub

The SME Climate Hub pledge is the official pathway for small- and medium-sized businesses to join the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign.

British Wax is committed to track and reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

We are working on Scope 3 to be able to monitor and report our progress.