The start of Newquay Supports sustainable Palm Oil
Cast your mind back to autumn 2018. Like me, you probably all saw, or at least heard about the Rang-Tan advert – an animated film made by Greenpeace, spreading the word about destructive palm oil. Iceland wanted to use the film as part of its Christmas advertisement and pledged to remove palm oil from all its brand products. As well as telling consumers what it intended to do, it also invited consumers to buy little orangutan toys for £5 a throw, the proceeds going to help save these critically endangered creatures. Along with thousands of others, I bought one and vowed to go palm oil free too. Except neither of us did. Iceland couldn’t keep to its pledge. A BBC article in January 2019 found that Iceland removed its label from 17 of the products they sold, simply because they couldn’t. They said “it was not possible to remove palm oil at a manufacturing level in these products by 31 December 2018”.
Business Breakfast Meeting Newquay
Palm oil free?
Initially, I vowed to go palm oil free too, until I realised that in attempting to do so I wasn’t actually doing anything to mitigate the problem. All I was actually doing was making myself feel good. What was clear, from the reading and research I was doing was that my palm oil boycott wasn’t going to make a jot of difference. It was time to rethink.
Impact Score App
As consumers, we can all help collectively, by demanding that the supermarkets and shops we use more actively publicise the products they sell that contain sustainable palm oil. In the UK, we can download the app from Impactscoreapp (Impact Score Apps), which scans products to see whether they contain sustainable palm oil. This way, we can avoid buying any products containing uncertified unsustainable palm oil.
I resolved to do what I could to make a difference. As an ex teacher, I was often asked to help in my 8 year old grandson’s class. Coincidentally, in 2018, around the same time as the Rang Tan advert appeared, his year group was involved in a project called ‘Our Deadly Planet’ and part of their study covered deforestation – it was perfect timing. With the research, I had done and the knowledge about the app Impactscoreapp, which scans products to see whether they contain sustainable palm oil.
I delivered lessons and then assemblies to his class, his year group and then the whole school about palm oil and the difference we could all make by choosing sustainable palm oil when we shopped. It wasn’t long before families in Newquay were downloading the app and the founders, Jo and James Hand, noted a real uptake in users. It was a powerful moment. I knew that more could be done to raise awareness in the town and we could follow in the footsteps of Chester, who achieved Sustainable Palm Oil City status in May 2019.
Support from Sir David Attenborough
Together, with another likeminded Newquay citizen, we set up social media pages and armed with determination and tenacity, I approached Newquay Zoo, to encourage them to get involved in making the town a sustainable palm oil community. I was thrilled when they agreed and since then, we have been working towards achieving sustainable palm oil status, with local businesses and the Town Council happy to come on board. Sir David Attenborough wholeheartedly supports what we’re aiming to achieve. In a letter, written November 2019, although he turned down the invitation to be our patron, he wished us every success with our campaign. To have received such support from one so venerable, was a special moment indeed. We’re not there yet. Covid put things on hold, but we’re well on the way to becoming an Sustainable Palm Oil Community and I’m proud to be involved.