Saving the planet one candle at a time - Global Recycling Day March 18 2021
Can you recycle used candles and tealights? An innovative UK business is successfully keeping scrap wax out of landfill.
As Global Recycling Day seeks to recognise the importance recycling plays in securing the future of our planet, one Devon company is busy giving new life to an overlooked waste product.
Richard Hills-Ingyon, founder of The Recycled Candle Company explains, “When people think about recycling, they think plastic. Then they think cans, cardboard, glass. Finally, they think about hard to recycle items: toothbrushes, crisp packets, make up, writing instruments. There are solutions for recycling all of these products.
“But not many people think about candles. Usually, when they’re finished with, they go into the bin and from there to landfill, without so much as a thought.”
Throwing candles away might not seem a big deal in the light of the massive environmental impact of other products. But Richard says that the use of candles has rocketed. In 2019, there was an annual spend in the UK alone of around £1.9 billion - averaging at around six candles a year per person. “That figure will certainly have increased over the past year, with more of us at home during the pandemic, using candles to provide soft light and relaxing fragrances especially during the autumn and winter months. It means a huge amount of wax is simply being discarded.”
But there is a solution to keeping these used out of landfill. The idea behind The Recycled Candle Company is to take donations of used candles and scrap wax, melt the wax down and use it to make beautiful new candles. It’s not as straightforward as it might at first seem as the filtering system has been honed by Richard over many years. “You can’t just put the wax into a pan and warm it up. There are impurities, dyes and scents to consider; grading the wax so only the best is used for new candles.”
Richard started making candles when he was 8 years’ old after he was given a candle making kit, a diversionary tactic for rainy days by his mum who runs a hotel in East Devon. It became a passion, and when he ran out of wax, he decided to work out how to reuse old wax to make more candles. “There weren’t any courses, I just had to do it by trial and error.”
After moving to London to pursue an acting career, he met architect and designer Sargon Latchin and together they took the concept of recycling candles and created a business. Sargon refined the identity and creative processes whilst Richard concentrated on candle making. After spending several years attending craft markets and then national trade shows, they opened their first shop in Ottery St Mary, moving to Exeter city centre in 2019.
Donations of used candles and scrap wax come from the hospitality sector, places of worship and individuals, some of whom have set up community group collection points. There is always great excitement when people realise they can recycle the ubiquitous tealight. “We extract the wax and the aluminium sustainers are shredded for recycling. People just love that we do this, and it’s attracted huge attention - one social media post about it was seen by around a quarter of a million people and attracted comments from around the world including the States.”
Currently around 40 tonnes of wax is kept out of landfill each year. Between 2019 and 2020 they made 60,000 new candles, which are all scented with bespoke fragrances like ‘Theology’, ‘Winter Spice’ and ‘Watercolour’ created in partnership with a London-based French parfumier.
As well as the intense green ethos running throughout the business, which includes reusing packaging to send products to customers, this is a successful commercial enterprise: The Recycled Candle Company supplies wholesale to independent shops, and organisations including The National Trust. Direct sales are made online and from their shop in Exeter’s indie shopping district, Gandy Street. Additionally, Richard and Sargon supply bespoke candles for special occasions, charities and events, one of their favourites being merchandise for KT Tunstall’s 2019 Wax tour.
For the future they are looking at crowdfunding to allow them to upscale their recycling operation and take in even larger donations of wax. To this end they are talking to several large manufacturers who are excited by the prospect of being able to meet green targets in this new, previously unthought-of way.
“As far as we know, there is currently no other company doing this in the UK, perhaps the world. There is no other way of bulk-recycling used wax, so someone has to do it!”