CPL Aromas’ responsibly-sourced Chamomile

In February 2020, CPL Aromas issued its Responsible Sourcing and Partnerships Policy. We did this to build on our sustainability strategy and to ensure our ingredients are responsibly sourced to secure a stable, sustainable supply. 

We are committed to working in partnership with our suppliers for greater transparency and to improve safety, environmental, social and business integrity practices across the board. You can read more about our Responsible Sourcing and Partnerships Policy here.

CPL have added several materials to our growing list of responsible sourced ingredients – the Egyptian Blue Chamomile being one of these. A full-bodied herbaceous note synonymous of the chamomile we all know and love, it adds the most delightful green fruity shades and sweet coumarin like tones of hay tobacco to a fragrance. 

Blue Chamomile often flowers two to three times per year, with the development of the flower taking around 20-25 days and the flowering period being 50-65 days. Harvested between March and May, it is dried before distillation. Each flower contains anywhere between 0.3 and 1.5% of essential chamomile oil – 1 ton of flowers can make up to 4kg of fragrance concrete. The chamomile essential oil is extracted through steam distillation of the plant’s leaves and stalks. There is a continuous improvement project underway to convert organic waste from the process into charcoal for use as fuel, as charcoal is a more versatile, efficient and cleaner fuel than burning the bio-mass.

During the manufacturing process we ask suppliers to be mindful of the sustainable issues that can arise and support environmental actions where possible. In Egypt, where water is scarce, to be sustainable our suppliers must strictly manage the process: drip irrigation is used to feed water and nutrients directly to the Chamomile roots, resulting in minimal water loss. Crop rotation techniques are used to conserve soil, along with organic fertilizers and minimal pesticides. Our suppliers also ensure that any waste created is recovered and converted to animal feed, keeping a circular economy in mind. As part of our responsible sourcing policy, it is also important for our supplier to support their local projects. CPL’s Blue Chamomile supplier supports a project that provides protection and development for children trapped in poverty. The project provides education, provision of nutrition and social activities for over 250 children each year. 

At the end of this process, this beautiful responsibly sourced fragrant ingredient is used by our creative team of perfumers to create more sustainable fragrances for our customers.

I love using the responsibly sourced chamomile in the fragrances I create because not only is there an added benefit of it being more sustainable thus protecting the environment, but its smell reminds me of my childhood memories, when my mum used to put chamomile in the bath to help me get a better night’s sleep. Chamomile adds amazing sweet herbaceous fruity notes to a fragrance. One of my favourite combinations is Chamomile & Jasmine accord - Kamila Lelakova, CPL Perfumer

Contact your local CPL representative for more information on using our responsibly sourced ingredients within your fragrances.