Fontana proudly boasts our Mission of offering non-toxic and independently-certified scenting products, but did you know that being as environmentally friendly as possible is part of our Mission too? Many big businesses make claims and promises about their sustainability efforts in April to jump on the Earth Month bandwagon, with many of these promises and claims being left forgotten year after year.
But how does Fontana stay sustainable and Earth-friendly year-round? Our co-founder, Katie, says that the journey to true sustainable living looks exactly like nontoxic living: imperfect, but with the goal to constantly improve. She explained, “Recycling was always extremely important to me until I learned that every shampoo and conditioner bottle I’ve ever used in my lifetime is still around today. That’s when I began to focus on limiting the amount of plastic in my life and reducing my consumption instead.” Katie holds Fontana Candle Co to the same standards when considering sustainability. While complete sustainability can be difficult for small businesses to achieve, Fontana continues to choose sustainable options whenever possible and make changes to become a more environmentally friendly company.
From raw materials to packaging, we care about our suppliers’ attitudes towards sustainability. Because of Eric’s expertise in procurement, he is mindful of where our ingredients come from and that they are sustainably sourced. For instance, we prioritize sustainable beekeeping practices over using organic beeswax. “Organic” is an unregulated term for beeswax to begin with and truly organic beeswax is nearly impossible to guarantee. We would rather source beeswax from healthy and sustainable hives than to have an unregulated ‘organic’ claim. Read more about our beeswax and coconut oil in our blog post here. Eric also kept sustainability in mind when looking for a wooden wick supplier. All of our natural, untreated wooden wicks come from FSC Certified Mills that plants one tree for every $100 dollars we spend with them - that’s a lot of trees!
Sustainable packaging can be costly and out of reach for small businesses who are growing. We recently changed our wax melt packaging from our simple glass jars to our new lovely paper wax melt boxes. But such beautiful and sustainable packaging would not have been possible when we first released them - just look at the plastic packaging most wax melts are sold in! All of our paper packaging is also produced in FSC certified mills and is printed with soy-based inks.
We always opt for recyclable packaging, but even now that limits what products we are able to offer to our customers. We actually finished formulating our own foaming hand soap last year (spoiler alert!), but it is still not for sale yet because of the packaging. While we would be able to launch hand soap in traditional plastic packaging, we are waiting until we have the resources to be able to offer our soap in more sustainable glass packaging instead. Packaging can become a tight-rope walk between sustainability and cost, and we continue to choose sustainable options while staying at an affordable price-point.
Our MADE SAFE seal is also a big part of Fontana’s commitment to being environmentally friendly. Our third-party certification confirms the safety of our products and ingredients in your home as well as in the environment. We ensure that our products are free of any and all toxins known or suspected to harm human health, animals, or ecosystems. MADE SAFE additionally screens ingredients for bioaccumulation, environmental persistence, general ecosystem harm, as well as for toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial life. This means that our products and ingredients aren’t harmful to our customers or the environment.
Please know that we will never claim that our sustainability efforts are perfect, but Fontana does everything possible to keep the health of our environment at top of mind. Although it is a quieter part of our Mission, we will continue to take steps whenever possible to be a more environmentally conscious company!
Learn more about Fontana Candle Company, and our Mission here.
