Everyday is Earth Day at SongCroft Naturals
Why We Do What We Do
We put as much thought into our business practices as we do into our products.
Truth in Labeling
What does it mean to be to be hypo-allergenic? Sustainable? Organic? Fair Trade? A growing consumer demand for organic, sustainably produced goods has had the unfortunate result of many industries practicing the art of “greenwashing”. Because there is little industry regulation of the use of labeling terms, there is little to no assurance that many products in today’s markets are labeled truthfully. It is not uncommon to find companies saying that their 98% organic and neglect to add that the last 2% is made up of toxic ingredients. It falls to the consumer to understand ingredients and do their own research. We find this to be distasteful and dishonest. We have voluntarily chosen to follow the International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) standard. This standard requires full disclosure of all ingredients. Our customers can be assured of the quality and integrity of what they are purchasing.
Organic Ingredients
Many of our ingredients are grown on our land using organic practices. We never use non-organic ingredients if an organic one is available to us. If certified organic ingredients are not available, we search for those which have been cultivated without chemicals or carefully harvested in the wild. We refuse to use any synthetic ingredients and all of our products are free of phthalates, formaldehydes, ureas, and parabens.
Sustainable
We take the ideals of sustainability to heart in all of our practices. To us, sustainability means meeting our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, protecting biodiversity of natural systems. What we put down the drain makes a difference. We recognize that we are all supported by a complex system and that we do not have a full understanding of all of the processes required to make a livable world. Knowing that, we strive to operate by the precautionary principle of, “First, do no harm.”
Fair-Trade
What isn’t produced on our land, we make every effort to ensure that our materials come from certified Fair Trade sources whenever available. We believe that every worker and community should reap the benefits of their labors. We consider fair wages and a clean environment to be among basic human rights.
Health Care
We believe that heath care includes how we nourish our bodies both with food and with what we use in regard to personal care products. Our products are formulated for high performance without synthetic ingredients. We are also committed to keeping them fairly priced so that they are accessible to most people. This is part of our commitment to healthcare for all.
Family Owned
Your purchase of SongCroft Naturals supports a family-owned, small farm business. We live in close contact with our land. Our entire family is involved in the growing of our ingredients and the development and production of our products. We literally live, eat and breathe what we bring to you.
Your support of our small business has a wide reaching impact. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms, employ nearly half of all private sector employees, and have generated 65% of all new jobs over the past 17 years. Money spent at small businesses has a greater impact on the local community.
Zero-Waste
We strive for a zero waste business. This mean that any materials which might be otherwise regarded as waste are recycled, re-used, composted, reclaimed, or brought back into the production cycle. Everything is collected and sorted for proper reclamation including the backs of labels, plastic bags, scrap metal from barrels, poly-woven bags, herbal refuse material, buckets, oil and much more!
No Animal Testing
Ever.
Packaging
We have spend countless hours researching the best packaging options and have looked at many issues from product safety to embodied energy in manufacturing, recycling and shipping different types of packaging. We have also listened to our customers requests for user friendly packaging such as roll- up salve tubes and plastic for our facial cleanser. Folks like to use them in the shower without the concern of glass breakage. The PET plastic actually has a lower embodied energy factor than the glass we used as it takes a lot less fossil fuel to ship (to us and then again to you) as well as significantly lower BTU’s to melt down for recycling. In addition, we use recycled boxes and packing paper for our mail orders. whenever we can. Even our tissue paper is from recycled paper.
Shipping Methods
We chose to use the United States Postal Service because of their reliability and preexisting infrastructure. Because mail trucks take the same route every day, we are not increasing the number of vehicles on the road or using more fuel. In addition, the USPS uses many hybrid vehicles for their operations.