Why I Use Rapeseed & Coconut Wax in my Candles

When I started researching what wax I would use for The Burning Butterfly candles, soy wax was the obvious choice. Soy wax sounds like the clean, eco-friendly choice and that reputation is exactly why so many small candle makers start with it. But when I dug into how soy is grown, processed, and used in candles, the picture became much more complicated.

Soy is a global commodity crop and that comes with consequences:

• Large-scale soy farming is a major driver of deforestation in South America, especially in Brazil and Argentina. Even if a supplier claims "sustainably sourced soy," the global demand still contributes to land-use pressure.
• Soy is typically grown in vast monocultures, which degrade soil health, reduce biodiversity, and increase vulnerability to pests, leading to heavy pesticide and fertiliser use.
• Many soy farms rely on chemical inputs that harm ecosystems and waterways. Even "organic soy" doesn't escape the monoculture problem.

Soy wax isn't as "natural" as people assume

When I started looking into this properly, I was genuinely surprised by how processed soy wax actually is. It sounds natural, but the reality is quite different.

Soy wax is not simply pressed from beans. It's a highly processed industrial product:

• Turning soybean oil into a solid wax requires heavy chemical processing.
• Many commercial soy waxes contain stabilisers, hardeners, or paraffin blends, often undisclosed.
• Most "soy wax" candles on the market are actually blends, because pure soy can be difficult to work with.

Performance issues that undermine its "clean burn" reputation

Soy can burn cleanly, but only under perfect conditions. In reality:

• It often tunnels or pools unevenly
• It can produce frosting and surface imperfections
• It struggles with scent throw, especially with essential oils
• It can soot if the wick isn't perfectly matched or the wax blend isn't ideal

These issues lead many makers to add paraffin or other enhancers, which defeats the purpose of choosing soy for its "clean" reputation.

The ethical and sustainability mismatch

Soy's eco-friendly branding doesn't always align with reality:

• Soy is grown far away; rapeseed is grown across the UK and Europe.
• Soy is also a major animal-feed crop, which complicates its sustainability profile.
• Much of the world's soy is produced by large agribusinesses, not small farmers.

This is what ultimately decided it for me. I could not in good conscience build a brand around environmental values while using an ingredient with this kind of footprint.

Why this matters for The Burning Butterfly

Soy wax should be a reasonable choice, but it's not the eco-halo product I assumed it was. I care about provenance and agricultural impact above anything else.

Why Rapeseed & Coconut Wax is a better choice

During my soy wax research, I started reading about rapeseed and coconut wax and immediately knew this was the right wax for my brand. It is sustainable, eco friendly, vegan and biodegradable. All the things I was looking for in a wax.

What I noticed first was the way it behaved – it had a much lower melting point than other waxes, a smooth, even finish and gave an excellent scent throw which matters enormously to me.

Genuinely sustainable agriculture

Rapeseed and coconut crops have a far lighter environmental footprint than soy:

• Rapeseed is grown across the UK and Europe, meaning dramatically lower transport emissions and full traceability.
• It's a bee-friendly crop, supporting pollinators rather than displacing them.
• Rapeseed farming doesn't rely on the large-scale deforestation associated with global soy production.
• The coconut originates from smallholding farmers in the Philippines who are being supported and trained in sustainable farming techniques.
• Coconut trees grow in mixed agriculture systems, not monoculture mega-farms.

This gives the blend a sustainability profile that's actually aligned with the eco-friendly candle brand I wanted to create.

Cleaner, simpler processing

Unlike soy wax, which must be heavily hydrogenated and often blended with additives:

• Rapeseed and coconut waxes are minimally processed.
• They don't require hardeners or paraffin stabilisers.
• The blend is naturally creamy and stable, without chemical intervention.

This makes the wax closer to what people think soy wax is - natural, clean, and uncomplicated.

Superior burn quality

This is where the blend really shines:

• Smooth, even burn with minimal tunnelling.
• Excellent scent throw.
• Low soot production, even with longer burns.

Ethical and local provenance

For a UK-based maker, this is a huge advantage:

• Rapeseed wax begins its life in fields across the UK and Europe.
• It helps support local agriculture rather than global commodity farming.
• My candles have a traceable, transparent supply chain, something which my customers increasingly care about.

Why I will not change my wax

People sometimes ask me why I do not just use soy - it is what most small candle brands use and customers are familiar with it. The honest answer is that I researched it, and I found something better.

Rapeseed wax is free from paraffin, soy, palm, beeswax and synthetic additives. It is plant-based and locally grown. The coconut is grown in the Philippines with the farmers being supported and trained in sustainable farming techniques. The fragrance oil I blend with is vegan friendly, cruelty free, paraben and phthalates free*. There is nothing in a Burning Butterfly candle that I would not be happy explaining to anyone who asked.

That matters to me. And I think it matters to the people who buy these candles too.

If you want to see the results, the full candle collection is here.

*Except The Peacock