Palm oil has been making headlines in recent years, with the destruction it causes being at the forefront of why it’s been gathering attention. It is the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm and it is a vegetable oil that is used in food, toiletries and cosmetics. The product is high in demand around the world for use in all of these different products, and avoiding it is proving to be more difficult than ever.
Despite this, there are some brands that are taking responsibility and distancing themselves from using palm oil in their products. Major UK retailer Iceland recently announced that they are banning palm oil in their products by the end of 2018. Read on to find out from Iceland why they decided to cut palm oil out of their products and the effect that they hope to encourage by doing so. Three species of orangutan have been massively affected by the deforestation for palm oil with 10,000 Bornean orangutans killed in the last 16 years. Orangutans have been in decline since the 1960s when deforestation for timber was in demand, but now palm oil is the culprit.