G’day mate,

Welcome to our February newsletter for 2023!

This month we bring you our ‘Happy Oil’ Lemon Scented Tea Tree (Leptospermum petersonii). Lemon Scented Tea Tree Oil carries a refreshing lemony aroma and powerful antimicrobial benefits. When paired with Tea Tree Oil, this oil combination exhibits exceptional anti-bacterial and anti-fungus properties, opening great formulation opportunities for personal and home cleaning.

In the News this month, global authorities are starting to act against Greenwashing claims with significant financial fines, making traceability and verifiable sustainability claims more crucial than ever.

More in this issue:

• Happy Aroma with Potent Powers - Lemon Scented Tea Tree
• Fight Fungal – Clean up the washable and unwashable
• Six years of R&D to identify the best Lemon Scented Tea Tree
• Planting more Lemon Scented Tea Tree to meet demand
• Regenerative Farm at Buhlambar
• Greenwashing Litigation and Legislation Crackdown
• Mark Webb on Lemon Scented Tea Tree
• Dee-Ann on Fragonia^®

Thanks for reading.

Phil Prather

FEATURED PRODUCT

NEW: Lemon Scented Tea Tree – the Happy Aroma with Potent Powers 

“What smells so nice?”

We get this question frequently - whenever we put a bit of Lemon Scented Tea Tree Oil in the diffuser in our office or at trade shows. Compared with the better-known Australian native Tea Tree Oil, Lemon Scented Tea Tree Oil is pleasant on the nose but still highly potent with its own anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. 

Many of us are experiencing very wet weather lately, from New Zealand to California to name just two regions. These extreme wet weather events provide ideal conditions for mold and other fungi to grow, which can bring on serious health issues.  

“As soon as you have high levels of water vapor, and there’s 70 percent relative humidity for two days, mold spores are going to utilize that liquid source and start growing (and) infiltrating the surface area … then releasing chemicals that cause serious adverse health effects”, quoted Professor Yuben Moodley from Institute for Respiratory Health, Australia. 

Evidence published on Lemon Scented Tea Tree Oil demonstrates its potential as a powerful anti-fungal agent, significantly inhibiting fungal growth. Studies show it is as powerful as micafungin and more potent than other essential oils, including Lemon Grass and various Eucalyptus Oils (Hood et al., 2010, Kim et al., 2012). 

Lemon Scented Tea Tree and Tea Tree Oil are a perfect power couple. The Lemon Scented Tea Tree Oil masks the herbaceous odor of Tea Tree Oil at a 1:7 ratio. Studies also find that the two oils combined work well on bacteria too. A study from Macquarie University, Australia (Phytoquest) demonstrates four times greater potency against Staphylococcus aureus than for Tea Tree Oil alone (Stockley et al., 2011) .

These qualities open NPD formulation efficacy opportunities for Lemon Scented Tea Trees. For more applications or inspirations of Australian native essential oils, please check our free applications tool online.

BENEFIT 1 – Happy, uplifting aroma

BENEFIT 2 – Effective against fungi

BENEFIT 3 – Aromatic mask for Tea Tree

BENEFIT 4 – Potent efficacy combined with Tea Tree

NPD Inspirations

THE EVIDENCE

IN THE NEWS

Greenwashing Litigation and Legislation Crackdown   

In December 2022, Europe introduced its first anti-greenwashing laws. This new collection of legislation aims to set a new standard for companies making environmental claims. The French Climate and Resilience Law, set to go into effect in 2023, and the European Union's proposed Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, is slated for 2024-25. These two laws together clearly indicate the risks and consequences for companies adopting environmental claims without detailed supporting evidence. 

This legislative trend to counter Greenwashing is also on the rise in the US. Sephora faces a class action launched by disgruntled shoppers over ‘clean’ claims. A claim was filed in New York federal court on November 2022. 

Back to Australia we are also seeing a significant crack-down on greenwashing, including corporate claims of sustainability goals. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has pledged to keep up scrutiny against greenwashing infringements. ASIC announced that ‘empty’ greenwashing claims are among their top enforcement priorities for 2023. Their crackdown on greenwashing started in Oct last year and so far has publicly targeted three companies in lawsuits: Tlou Energy, Vanguard, and Black Mountain Energy. Each company paid a fine of around $40,000. 

ASIC and EU law enforcement's emphasis on their guide that traceability has become more critical than ever as companies must collect and sustain their own evidence. 

Click to learn more about our Traceability and Environmental credentials. Feel free to contact us if you need any help.