Uncovering Cosmetics – Palm Oil

Have you ever stopped to take a look at the ingredient list of your cosmetics? As a makeup user myself, I have to admit that I do not do this. I mean, what for? I’m no chemist, what do all these ingredients mean?! Well, even if we do not understand what all the chemicals and substances in our cosmetics do for the product, it is important to interrogate where they come from. In this post, I will be investigating oil palm, a crop essential for cosmetics, can be harmful for the environment.

Before we begin, what is palm oil? Palm oil comes from oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) that grow in the tropics, specifically, within 10 degrees of the equator. They are native to Africa and were initially introduced to Asia as ornamental plants (Young, 2021). With its popularity in not only cosmetics, but also other daily goods like soaps and food products, many countries across Africa, Asia and South America have expanded their palm oil plantations. Our neighbours – Indonesia and Malaysia are presently leading producers, (Young, 2021). About 58.84  million tonnes of palm oil are produced every year, with Indonesia and Malaysia accounting for 85% of total output (Shah, 2017).

More than 70% of cosmetic products contain palm oil and its derivatives as they provide multiple benefits such as skin hydration, foaming, softening and texturizing actions in finished products (MPOC, n.d.). It is also an essential building block in the manufacture of over 1,000 synthetic compounds, which are made through chemical reactions. This explains its widespread use, making it almost impossible for most consumers to go a day without using or eating something that contains palm oil.

However, the use of palm oil has significant negative environmental impacts including air, soil and water pollution. Firstly, the large-scale clearing of primary forests for the expansion of oil palm plantations results in the critical loss of habitats for endangered species. Secondly, in order to clear these large pieces of land for palm oil plantations, burning is often employed. This results in air pollution as the burning of forests releases smoke and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (WWF, n.d.). These burnings are one of the causes for the semi-regular haze plaguing Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

Oil palm plantations can also cause water and soil pollution. A palm oil plantation generates 2.5 metric tons of liquid waste for every metric ton of palm oil it produces (WWF, n.d.). Direct release of this waste can cause freshwater pollution, which affects downstream biodiversity and people. These pollutants can also leach into soil deposits, causing soil pollution.

There are also social implications of palm oil. From Mendes (2021),

“The oil palm only brought a lot of problems. First of all, it brought destruction of our fauna, our flora, our rivers,” Tembé said as he looked out over the Turé River, close to the Turé-Mariquita reserve, an Indigenous territory about 250 km (150 mi) south of the city of Belém on Brazil’s north coast. “This water isn’t clean. But in the past we drank it. This river and the forest around it were like a supermarket for the population; it was where we fished, where we hunted.”