What the Word "Organic" Means

When I started making natural products based surf wax I was concerned about the legal use of the word "organic" and how it might apply to a product like surf wax.  This is some information that I found related to that topic.  

Organic can mean different things in different contexts.  Most people are familiar with the usage of the word in relation to food products, such as organic vegetables etc...  There are also some foods that are called "natural".  Other words that are also seen are: natural, authentic, "eco-", "bio-", and other like word associations that imply some sort of hightened environmental awareness in the product.  For some products, such as food stuffs and some agricultural-like products, there are specific legal criteria for using the word organic.  This legal criteria may or may not exists for a specific counrty and will also vary between countries.  

Scientifically, organic means a chemcial compound that contains carbon.  Some carbon bearing compounds are excluded, such as carbon dioxide and carbonates, however in general chemicals that contain some carbon are usually clasified as "organic".  

Several consumer based products use the term organic to mean some specific legal condition.  These products include agriculutral foods, eggs, dairy products, and animal meats (beef, chicken, etc...).  The basic criteria for being classified organic is to strive towards a more "naturalistic" approach to the food production, such as not using pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, not using radiation to sterilzie food, no hormones, anti-biotics, non-genetically modified materials, and other conditions such as free ranging livestock.  The specific criteria and methods of validation or certification can be unique to a country and can be controlled by law and applicable governing organizations.  For example in the United States, the term "Certified Organic" is controlled by the law 7 C.F.R. Part 205 which is controlled and enforced by the USDA.  

My current understanding of this law is that it is NOT applicable to surf wax.  A somewhat confusing issue is organic cotton, which is not a food but is an agricultural product.  Our "natural" surf wax is made from beeswax and other non-synthetic materials, all of which derive from natural sources.  Some of these ingredients come from sources that "grow" like the beeswax itself, so it could be reasoned that the wax materials COULD be produced according to the intent of the USDA organic certification even if the law does not currently apply to this class of product.  For example, one can buy certified organic honey and it reasonable that perhaps the beeswax that was produced along with that honey is also "certified organic".  Depending upon the formulation of the wax, the ability to claim congruence with the organic laws may become more or less uncertain.  Some wax additives and ingredients may be of a natural source but not of a type that could be tied to some pre-existing "organic" product.  For example some surf waxes use clay.  The term "organic clay" are clays that are produced from the decay products of living organisms, which is probably NOT the clay being used in surf wax.  Surf wax clays are most likely fine grained inorganic materials like aluminum phyllosilicates which have some unique properties such as plastic deformation which make them moldeable and "clay-like".  The physical plastic properties of inorganic clays are the desired features for surf wax, pliable, plastic, etc...  

In these respects it does not appear legally appropriate to require certification of surf wax to be "organic" and in some instances it may not even be possible to classify some of the ingredients as "organic" according to US law, nor is it necessarily possible to classify some surf wax ingredients as organic using the scientific definition (such as with clays).  The best terms for describing environmental awareness with surf wax could be:

• Made with organic materials (using the scientific defintion of organic).  Of course surf waxes made from refined oil products are also "organic" in this sense too.  
• Made from natural materials.  The implied sense is that the materials are not synthetically produced.  
• Made from bio-degradable materials.  If the materials can readily break down in the environment into non-toxic materials, this could be claimed.  
• Made from "eco-friendly" materials.  This is even less clear, but implies some sort of effort was made to select materials and processes that are environmentally friendly.  
• Made with renewable energy.  This could be claimed if the energy required to produce the product shows traceability to some current renewable energy source.  Note there are some interesting legal classifications for renewable energy as well.  

I will update this page as I acquire more information on the environmental issues applicale to our products.