Aromantic’s Natural, Organic, Ethical and Fairly traded Purchasing Policy

Our policy on purchasing raw materials is based on a holistic perspective, which considers the products we source and stock in relation to nature and to people. AROMANTIC constantly monitors the market to search, demand and consequently supply more organic, natural raw, ethically sourced materials such as essential oils, vegetables oils, fats and waxes, herbs, and other raw materials. We give priority to raw materials that have been fairly traded or ethically sourced from traditional communities, modern community projects or co-operatives. This demand encourages and rewards growers to use organic and co-operative/community principles in their production, to be more ecologically aware and to ask for a fair deal when selling their produce. This in turn affects the cosmetics market and so consumers' awareness and demand for such products. It is a positive cycle of change that respects nature and people and improves the ability of future generations to sustain themselves.

Most importantly, we wish, through the information contained in our website and in our publications to describe exactly what our products contain and how they should be used, so that you yourself will be able to make informed choices about raw materials based on our standards, other people's and your own. We don't, however, simply supply raw materials to you; our aim is to empower you with knowledge, information and training.

Raw materials of the best quality are then selected in line with the company's overall ethos and according to the following criteria:

• Our aim is to sell raw materials which are as environmentally friendly and as natural as possible.
• To the extent that they can be obtained, and are of interest to our customers, we are committed to selling as many natural and organic raw materials as possible, which are cultivated without artificial fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides. All of our organic products are certified by the Organic Farmers & Growers (OF&G) UK certifying body so that you can be confident that the organic raw materials you purchase from Aromantic are indeed organic. For more information about our Organic Certification and what it means for you, click here.
• We only sell raw materials which are synthetically produced where the natural equivalent would be derived from animals (e.g. vitamin A); which cannot (as it is now) be naturally produced (e.g. preservatives); or where the natural raw material is very expensive and the cost cannot be justified by the extent of its use (e.g. allantoin).
• To the extent that they can be obtained, and are of interest to our customers, it is our aim to sell as many raw materials that are fairly traded or are bought from community projects and co-operatives as possible, which gives producers a better deal and enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. Click here for examples of our products that are fairly traded or are bought from traditional or modern community projects and co-operatives.
• We will not sell raw materials made from animal sources, e.g. slaughterhouse by-products such as gelatine, collagen, and animal-based emulsifiers and soap ingredients. These are by far the most commonly used materials in the cosmetic industry and we want no part of that. The only animal by-product we stock is beeswax and no bees were harmed in the harvesting of this natural product.
• We do not support the testing of raw materials for cosmetics on animals. Where we are unable to source raw materials which are not tested on animals we use raw materials that are at least guaranteed not tested on animals after 1996, thereby operating a fixed cut-off date system.
  Aromantic do not sell Vaseline® or paraffin-based/mineral oils.
  Aromantic don't sell perfumes that are synthetically produced. We sell only pure essential oils, absolutes, natural organic aromas and natural perfume concentrates (which are based on whole essential oils and absolutes, fractionated essential oils and botanical CO2 extracts).
• We monitor all of our raw materials through the use of batch numbers, which enable us to trace them internally within the business from the point of delivery, through storage, documentation, product information and analysis and externally through to our customers and retailers. This is important to ensure the correct information is given and in the following up of any customer queries.
• It should be possible to classify and identify all raw materials according to their botanical (Latin) name, plant family, part(s) used, country of origin, method of cultivation, method of extraction and any other processes.
  

Helpful links/Related Articles

Earth and Community Care
Aromantic's OF&G Organic Certification
Aromantic's Purchasing & Sales Policy for Essential Oils
Classifying our Raw Materials
About Aromantic
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Production
About Kolbjorn Borseth
Natural vs Organic article
Skin Allergy Test

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