How Do We Define Sustainability?
BM Dooney Farms incorporates Sustainability into all aspects of our business. Our backgrounds in science influence our approach to sustainability, which in Ecology really translates into Resistance & Resilience. Organic practices are ones that minimize exposure to chemical treatments, and emphasize natural practices that promote a healthy environment by enhancing resistance + resilience.
Resistance – the property of communities or populations to remain ``essentially unchanged`` when subject to disturbance.
We apply this approach to sustainability to everything we do.
From our bees to our products, we strive to use practices that are not harmful to the natural world.
We care that our products and practices are healthy for the planet because that promotes resistance to disturbances & resilience when exposed to perturbation. We care what legacy we leave on the landscape, and we choose practices, products, and packaging that promote the health + sustainability of the planet.
Resilience – the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage, quickly recovering.
Are We An Organic Apiary?
Well…no.
While we do utilize organic practices on our farm (NO chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers used), we are not a Certified Organic Apiary. In fact, the Organic Honey label is actually not possible to obtain in many areas of the US.
Here’s why – to produce organic honey requires nectar sources (all the plants) to be free of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides…AND, any plants within 3 MILES of the apiary must also be free of these chemicals. There is no place in the Mississippi Delta – Missouri to New Orleans – that can meet this 3-mile chemical-free requirement. Virtually every town & city fails this requirement, because most home gardeners & local landscapers use some combination of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides. Most rural communities also fail this requirement because of wide-spread use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in commercial agriculture.
After all, it can't be good for you, if it's not good for the planet, too!
-B.M. Dooney
Our Products
- We use only ingredients that are 100% USDA Organic / Canada Organic.
- Whenever possible, we use USP Pharmaceutical & Food Grade ingredients.
- Our wax & honey are sourced from our hives, where we follow organic practices.
Our Packaging
We are committed to removing all single-use plastics from our lives!
Plastic packaging is rarely recycled – according to the EPA, less than 15% will get recycled. This is why our products are packaged in reusable & recyclable forms – glass, paper, tin, cloth bags.
We encourage you to re-purpose our product packaging for use in your home.
- Use the empty tins to organize your desk to store small items like paperclips & rubber bands.
- Make your own DIY scented sprays with essential oils + distilled water to fill the empty glass spray bottles.
- Use the cloth bags for jewelry or small electronic gadgets like USB drives.
Plastic packaging waste is also why we do not sell any of our soaps in liquid form. Liquid is heavy, so is glass. If we were to sell a 16oz glass bottle of liquid shampoo, the shipping costs would be too prohibitive to justify. To cut shipping costs, plastics offer a tempting solution – they are lighter & cheaper to purchase.
While we are not opposed to making & using liquid soaps, we are not willing to contribute to the environmental problem that these plastics create.
- 80% of Americans have access to recycling centers.
- Yet, 75% of plastics end up in US landfills each year.
- More than 8 billion metric tons of plastic globally will find its way into the world’s oceans.
- By 2050, it has been estimated that the oceans will contain more plastic than fish (based on weight)!
Simply put – recycling is not recovering most of the plastics that are generated. It is up to each of us to stop purchasing things packaged in single-use plastics.
To learn more about the fate of plastics in the environment, and to see where our figures and stats came from:
Plastic Recycling Facts and Figures – The Balance
Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Report – EPA