Charcoal with FSC label and sustainable briquettes from residual flows
All charcoal from our Boni and Everyday private labels bear the Forest Stewardship Council label, a guarantee for sustainable forest management. Besides, the Boni cotton and coconut briquettes are sustainably produced from residual flows.
Sustainable charcoal from Namibia with FSC label
The FSC-certified wood used for our Boni and Everyday charcoal comes from Namibia and is derived from the 'Acacia Mellifera'. This exotic tree species plays an important role in the bush encroachment of 45 to 60 million hectares of land in Namibia. The area is largely covered with impenetrable bush or forest. This leaves other plants to struggle, causes a decline in biodiversity and makes agriculture and cattle breeding more difficult. The production of charcoal helps to restore the ecosystems of the overgrown savannas and at the same time provides an additional source of income for Namibian farmers and businesses.
FSC-certified charcoal for Boni and Everyday in 2021
Charcoal harvesting is regulated by Namibian forestry and environmental legislation. Licences for charcoal production are only granted for areas where bush encroachment occurs. This too is sustainable forest management, for which FSC developed a specific standard, adapted to the Namibian context.
Sustainable cotton briquettes & coconut briquettes
Our private label Boni cotton briquettes come from China. They are made from the stalks of the cotton bush, which must be pruned after the harvest anyway. Pruned branches used to be burned in the fields, but now our producer buys them to char them in industrial ovens. That is how soot emissions are limited. Moreover, the cotton farmers earn extra income from the sale of their pruned branches. In other words, a new product is made from a residual flow.
Boni's coconut briquettes come from Indonesia. They too are made from a residual flow, namely the shell of coconuts. This by-product of other productions (e.g. coconut milk) is given a valuable purpose.
Control of working conditions
The FSC label guarantees that the FSC-certified producer pays attention to the safety, health and hygiene of employees. The Namibian FSC standard was drawn up in cooperation with the German sustainability organisation GIZ and the Namibian Charcoal Association (NCA). During FSC audits, it is checked whether the farms comply with NCA Good Practices.
We also conduct social audits in the factories where the charcoal, coconut briquettes and cotton briquettes are produced and/or packaged. In doing so, we apply the BSCI standard, a code of conduct intended to improve working conditions worldwide.
