Skittles…say it ain’t so!

I love Skittles. Oh man do I love Skittles, but should I quit them for the good of the planet?

My love of Skittles goes back as far as I can remember. My friends and family know of this and have given me Skittles gifts at numerous times (picture frames adorned with Skittles, bouquets of flowers made from Skittles packages, etc). While I have always felt Skittles could do no wrong, I have come to learn recently that one of their ingredients is palm oil.

Like me until recently, you may be thinking “So what? A lot of products use palm oil!” You’re correct in that thought, an unreal amount of products we use daily contain palm oil, but did you know that over 80% of palm oil is procured in ways that harm not only the rainforests but the world at large?

In Rainforests like Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, trees are being cleared to by plantations to produce palm oil from the pulp of the palm trees. There are so many negative side effects from this process of cutting trees down to make candy, shampoo, makeup and other products(which I find highly disturbing). The trees hold an incredible amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is spewed back into the atmosphere when they are cut down, or burned down as is the case in some situations. That only helps to spur climate change along.

Another major issue is the destruction of homes for many animal species. The Bornean orangutan is now classified as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This is just one animal species that is suffering due to the destruction of their habitat.

So what can we do? I’ve been asking myself this for days since all this was presented to me. I’m still learning about this issue and while there are some great petitions you can sign, and organizations fighting for sustainable palm oil production, I decided to email Mars (the maker of Skittles) directly with my concerns.

As of writing this, I have yet to receive a response but fingers crossed I hear back soon. Below is my email in full. I highly recommend doing the same thing to manufacturers of the products you love and use daily.

Hello Skittles!

First off, I’m a lifelong Skittles fan. They’ve been the #1 candy to me for pretty much my whole life, so thanks for making these tiny bundles of wonderfulness!

Secondly, as a person concerned with climate change, it saddened me to see palm oil in Skittles. I’ve been researching this and see that Mars is committed to “purchasing 100 percent of several key raw materials through independent certification programs that share these same goals”. This is good news, but I’m curious how far along this goal is.

Also, I see you’re aligned with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which seems great but I’m wondering how this ‘sustainability’ works. Are rainforests like Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem still being cleared to produce this palm oil? If so, this worries me. The animal species, and human race can’t continue to suffer through this practice.

As I said I’m a lifelong Skittles consumer and would like to continue to be, but won’t be able to allow myself to continue as such if it harms the planet and its inhabitants.

Thanks for your time, looking forward to a response.