Did you know that the detergents and fabric softeners of many well-known brands contain animal fat? Ugh! Not such a good idea and certainly not necessary. But what about detergents and fabric softeners made with animal fat? And perhaps even more importantly: do you do your laundry with animal fat without being aware of it? You can read it here.
Animal fat in your detergent or fabric softener?
Isn't it a crazy idea to do your laundry with animal fat? Yet it happens. The detergents and fabric softeners of many well-known brands contain animal ingredients. In many cases it concerns the ingredient 'sodium tallowate': a difficult word for saponified beef fat. Basically everything with the word 'tallow' has to do with animal fat. But hey, how can you know that? The ingredient lists on packaging are often incomprehensible. As a result, there are many people who have no idea that they do their laundry several times a week with animal fats. We think it's something you would like to know.
Animal fat versus vegetable fat
If you look at age-old soap recipes, animal fat was almost always used to make soap and laundry products. And while vegetable fats work just as well, many major brands still opt for animal fat. Why? You guessed it: it's a lot cheaper than vegetable fat. Fortunately, there are more and more brands that are delving into the use of vegetable oils. Think of olive oil, (RSPO certified) coconut and palm oil, argan oil, linseed oil or hemp oil. The result? Animal-friendly soaps, based on the power of plants, that have the same effect as products made with animal fats.
Why does Marcel's Green Soap choose detergent and fabric softener with vegetable fats?
In most cases, animal fats are a by-product of slaughterhouses. So you could say that this is not a problem. And as long as humans eat meat, this waste (including fat) will remain as a residual product and will be used in all kinds of products. Yet Marcel's Green Soap prefers to use 'plant power' for the products we make. Nature is full of powerful and nourishing substances. Why wouldn't we use it?
And what about palm oil?
We hear you thinking: 'but vegetable oil such as palm oil is bad for the environment, right'? Although opinions are unfortunately still divided on this, we feel the same way. We are all familiar with the images of rainforests being cut down to make way for palm oil plantations. And while rainforests, such as those in the Amazon region, have a very important function when it comes to the absorption of CO2. That is why we at Marcel's Green Soap started looking for a replacement ingredient for palm oil last year, and at the end of 2021 we introduced the first liquid palm oil-free detergent in the Netherlands. In this article you can read all about that. Our fabric softeners are also palm oil-free.
You can wash sustainably without animal ingredients with the detergents and fabric softeners from Marcel's Green Soap. That feels a lot better, don't you think? Feel Good Cleaning we call that.
