Looking to create a cosy yet sustainable glow? Try my handy guide to the best eco-friendly, vegan, and cruelty-free soy candles in the UK.
The thing I love buying most isn’t ethical shoes. It isn’t houseplants. Nope. It’s candles. On a dark night, there’s nothing better than closing the curtains, dimming the lights, and lighting some soy or beeswax candles to create a lovely, relaxing atmosphere. Especially after a hectic day at work.
But not all candles are created equally. Here’s why you might want to avoid standard candles, and some sustainable vegan alternatives made with soy wax.
What’s Wrong With Standard Candles?
Most standard candles are made from paraffin wax. This is a fossil fuel-based petroleum by-product that is made when crude oil is refined into petrol.
As well as being made from non-renewable fossil fuels, burning these kinds of candles can affect your indoor air quality when you burn them.
Soy candles, on the other hand, are made from soy wax. This is a renewable vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans. This means they are petroleum-free, which benefits the environment.
Isn’t Soy Bad For the Environment?
Soy does have a bad reputation because it is linked to deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest. However, it’s important to remember that soy is the primary source of protein for most animal feed. It is the demand for meat that has seen the demand for soy rocket.
Approximately 75% of all soy grown is used for animal feed, so it really isn’t the soy candle industry that is driving this deforestation. Burn your soy candles without remorse.
If you want to avoid any Amazonian-sourced soy, then many candle makers do source their wax from EU-based sources. European soy is grown in Italy, France, Romania, and Croatia, so more locally sourced soy is available.
Six of the Best Sustainable Soy Candles
If you’re looking to make the switch, then let me help you out. I’ve tried a lot of candles in my time. Here are six of the best soy candles in case you’re in the market for some candles.
Or maybe you’re like me, and candles are your fail-safe thing to buy for people who are really hard to buy for! If that’s the case, then I’ve also got an eco-friendly gift guide that might be right up your street.
On to the candles:
Paddywax
Paddywax soy candles, available online from Lisa Angel or WildBounds from £9, are one of my long-standing favourites. They smell beautiful, and the containers are so pretty that you’ll want to reuse them.
I have had a few of the recycled bottle and apothecary jar candles in the past, and have saved the empty jars for candle making. I also have a wooden octagon candle pot that has now been reused as a plant pot. Meanwhile, the ceramic candle, pictured above, could easily be reused as a vase.
One point to note is that I have found that Paddywax candles are a little more strongly scented than other scented soy candles I have tried.
I find that a good thing when you are trying to scent a larger area, such as a living room. However, they may be a bit overpowering in a small bathroom, for example. Save your Paddywax candle for fragrance purposes, rather than mood lighting when you’re in the bath!
Pott Candles
Although not strictly a soy candle (but still vegan-friendly and paraffin-free), Pott Candles are another good sustainable choice. Made from a blend of rapeseed and coconut oil, Pott Candles are all about reuse.
Its beautiful pots – made in the UK by artisan potters – are designed to be refilled and reused over and over again. So, in the first instance, you buy a pot and a candle (from £32.50), and then once your candle runs out, you buy a candle refill (from £9.50), so that no candle pots go to waste.
The candles are all made in the UK. Each is scented with 100% essential oils and sustainable fragrance oils. And so you never get bored, there’s an array of seasonal scents to choose from.
Lovewell
Lovewell Candles (available at Social Supermarket from £12) are hand-poured in Bristol from 100% natural soy wax. Each candle offers a clean, eco-friendly alternative to paraffin while filling your space with calming aromatherapy scents.
However, that’s not all there is to love about Lovewell. Each candle is made by women who have experienced barriers to employment. Lovewell specifically employs and trains women who have faced the trauma of trafficking and exploitation, providing a supportive community where they can build skills, confidence, and brighter futures. Every purchase helps support this work.
Aery
Aery candles (available at Look Fantastic from £16) are designed with both people and the planet in mind.
Made in England using 100% plant-based wax, they offer a clean, long-lasting burn of up to 50 hours without paraffin, palm oil, or genetically modified ingredients. What’s more, all of its lovely candles are vegan, cruelty-free, and beautifully fragranced with blends formulated from naturally derived essential oils and non-toxic fragrance oils.
Aery also takes sustainability seriously, with packaging that is fully recyclable, reusable, or made from responsibly sourced recycled materials, even down to the plant-based inks.
Get 15% off your first order when you sign up for the Look Fantastic mailing list.
YR Studio
Looking for a cosy, sustainable glow this autumn? All of YR Studio’s soy candles – available online at Etsy from £9.99 – are hand-poured in Somerset, using only vegan ingredients that are not tested on animals.
Coupled with eco-friendly packaging, including home compostable and water-dissolvable packing peanuts made of corn starch, YR Studio candles are a sturdy, sustainable swap for standard petroleum-based candles.
YR Studios has one main goal – to make you feel all snuggly and cosy. As such, it specialises in Autumn scents. “Pumpkin Spice”, “Sweater Weather”, and “Hello Autumn” are just some of its best-selling candles.
P.F. Candle Co.
Finally, I’m a fan of P.F. Candle Co.’s stylish, ethical soy candles – available online in the UK at Candles Direct (from £24).
This LA-based home fragrance company believes that fragrance is an extension of your home design. As such, P.F. Candle Co. creates stylish, minimal products that smell as good as they look.
Sustainability is also important. All of its candles are made using 100% US-grown soy wax, while all of its formulations are vegan, cruelty-free, and phthalate-free.
I would say that P.F. Candle Co. candles are pretty strong-smelling, so they are best suited if you want to scent a room, rather than wanting to create an ambience through candlelight.
More Sustainable Candle Resources
Once you’ve finished burning your candle, here’s how to remove candle wax from your jar so that you can reuse the jar again. I’ve even put information in there on how to recycle your leftover candle wax, for a zero-waste burn.
You can also make your own beeswax candles. It’s really easy and fun. And if you’d rather use soy, then simply replace the beeswax with soy flakes to make soy candles.
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