What is it made from?
INGREDIENTS: Unrefined Fairtrade Cane Sugar (Sucrose), Sweet Almond Butter (Prunus dulcis), Mango Tree Butter (Mangifera indica), Organic Sweet Orange Essential Oil (Citrus sinensis), Geranium Essential Oil (Pelargonium graveolons), Carrot Root Oil (Daucus carota), Myrrh Essential Oil (Commiphora myrrha). Limonene* Citronellol* Geraniol* Linalool* Citral*. *Naturally occurring constituents of the essential oils used.
Where does it come from?
Akamuti is based in Wales. Only ‘100% natural botanical ingredients’ are used in Akamuti’s products.
Is it sustainable?
Unrefined Fairtrade Cane Sugar -
Sweet Almond Butter -
Mango Tree Butter -
Organic Sweet Orange Essential Oil - Citrus plantations tend to be managed nowadays as an intensive monoculture, (a lot of crops are farmed this way now, bring back crop rotation!) which causes soil erosion. This type of farming, whilst effective for crop growing, has caused problems with the land and has even led to over-production (wasted food).
Geranium Essential Oil - Native to South Africa but grown worldwide. I can’t find any concrete information on the sustainability of geranium as a crop, so I assume there are no major issues here.
Carrot Root Oil -
Myrrh Essential Oil –
Essential oil production generally uses steam distillation which has no environmental concerns surrounding it, but it takes a lot of plants to make only a small amount of essential oil.
(Container) Aluminium – The container is made of aluminium, which is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, making up about 8% of it. Aluminium is very chemically reactive, so is mostly found combined with many different types of mineral. It has a low density and doesn’t corrode easily (although it does react to dissolved chlorides such as sodium chloride/salt), making it a very useful material, and is often used for transportation of other materials for these reasons. Although aluminium is an abundant element, deposits of ores which can be used to make aluminium metal are not as common as you might expect. China is responsible for most production of aluminium. It is very energy-intensive to create, so most smelting forges are located in areas where electricity is cheap. The energy use is so high, that in the US, aluminium production uses 5% of all the US’s electricity! Which is why recycling aluminium is extremely important, as recycling aluminium uses only 5% of the energy it would take to create virgin aluminium, a huge difference. It is one of the most valuable materials for recycling for this reason, and recycling rates tend to be higher than for most other materials. Most aluminium cans will be made from recycled material or contain a high percentage of recycled content. Aluminium is one of the most easily recycled materials, as it can be recycled over and over again without any downgrade in quality, unlike plastic, which is ‘downcycled’ as the quality of the material decreases each time it is recycled.
How about ethical?
Akamuti’s Ethical Policy – ‘We are passionate about trading ethically and fairly. This means we try to think holistically about our ingredients, i.e. where they come from, where they are grown and harvested and the environmental impact that this may have on their immediate surroundings. Whether it be argan oil from Morocco or shea butter from Ghana – we believe in promoting sustainability from start to finish, so that everyone benefits!
We believe that by paying fair prices to small businesses for their produce, it will provide growers with a sustainable income. This enables them to build a better, more sustainable life for themselves and their communities. Fair prices contribute toward protecting vulnerable livelihoods and environments. Poor prices paid for high quality, labour-intensive products result in undermining the value of a product and the people who produce it. Unfair trade feeds the oppressive cycle of poverty and we believe that we can break that chain by supporting fair trade practices and principles.’
Extra good stuff:
Environmental Policy – Sustainability is really important to Akamuti – ‘We don’t use any unsustainable ingredients from endangered plants or tree species such as sandalwood and rosewood. If we’re aware that using a certain plant contributes to habitat destruction, we’ll choose something else!’ (…This is a very refreshing pledge, as all too often brands choose ingredients without thinking about their supply chain - this is true even of a lot of ‘eco-friendly’ companies sadly. Everything comes from somewhere, and who knows what knock-on effects we are having if we are ignorant about our supply chains? ABP does it’s best to research the ingredients and materials in the products we sell.)
Akamuti have an eco-friendly office, using recycled paper and environmentally friendly packaging. They have a zero-waste policy in their office, they recycle or compost all of their waste to try and make sure nothing ends up in a landfill.
