Is Beeswax The Bees Knees

Recently I was asked if beeswax is sustainable; so I went buzzing around for answers.

According to Stefan Bogdanov's article for Bee World: Wax serves as construction material for bee’s combs and is made up of carbohydrates such as honey sugars, fructose, glucose and sucrose. Annually beekeepers discard the old combs and in turn bees are stimulated to build new combs. This is done for hygienic purposes and to increase wax production. Old combs must be exchanged regularly between every two to three years, to be melted down to produce pure wax. Beeswax is processed in two steps: first the wax is extracted and cleaned and second it is purified. Beeswax is very versatile and is found in 25 – 30% of cosmetics, 25 – 30% of pharmaceutical products, 20% of candles and 10 – 20% is attributed to other purposes. Beeswax is generally considered sustainable because it is a by-product of honey production. 

Image reused from The Authentic Honey Co.