Talybe - organic and Fair: a choice for people and the environment. In eleven posters, it is presented the project Talybe. An innovative line of environmentally friendly household detergents and personal hygiene products, with fully vegetable formulas and organic and Fair Trade ingredients. It is presented, with the support of beautiful images, all the production chain from the producer to the consumer, including the environmental impact.

1. TALYBE, Bio and Fair:
an option to respect the “an innovative line of
environmentally friendly
detergents, with fully
vegetable formulas and
people and the environment organic and Fair Trade
ingredients”
1

2. The Brazilian folk song describes the
“There is a way to essence of the commitment that the
women, quebradieras of the babassu
coconut, live each day to ensure their
change society, survival and the survival of their families
and the pre-Amazonian forest where the
babassu comes from.
participate without The detergents project was not created
in the wake of a fashion, but on the firm
belief that applying fair trade means
the fear of being a restoring dignity to people and to Mother
Earth.
woman!” This work began in 2007and is still
ongoing, ensuring that every detail is
ethical and environmental and is treated
with care.
The exhibition unites and highlights
the main features of this ambitious
project called Talybe fair trade, which
is co-sponsored by a network of Italian
Fair Trade organization: LiberoMondo,
Mondo Solidale, in collaboration with
Equomercato.
www.talybe.it 2

3. The tree of life
The babassu coconut palm is commonly The use of this natural resource is
called, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão therefore to preserve the Brazilian forest,
where it grows, the tree of life, because as well as to support the lives of thousands
from it you can produce: food for humans of agro-farming families. As a matter of fact
and livestock; resistant fibers for baskets 300,000 families depend on this plant.
and roof tiles for houses; leaves for The productive activities relating to
organic fertilizers; coal for kitchen stoves. babaçu are many and fundamental
In particular the seeds are used for: oil both for families and for the entire
and flour for food; oil and vegetable fats rural communities. Not only do they
for soaps; cosmetics and detergents. provide an income, they enable the
people to remain in the rural areas and
The babassu coconut palm is a species strengthen the role of women, but they
endemic to the Amazonian region, also strengthen the social cohesion and
where it grows in a large area of roughly can thus be considered a real means
18 million hectares. Its rational and for protecting the rights of the agro-
sustainable use actively contributes to farming families. The babaçu is thus not
the preservation of this important plant only a source of income but it also a
species of the pre-Amazon zone. cultural and traditional element for entire
The babaçu coconut, which is the fruit of communities.
the plant, is harvested without being cut.
www.talybe.it 3

4. Although all the babassu coconut
palm parts are vital for the lives of the
It takes a seed... population of many Maranhão state
provinces, the seed is without a doubt the
most precious gift, because babassu oil is
to make an organic-fair made from it. It is the real protagonist of
the Talybe organic solidarity detergents .
detergent! The use of babaçu oil, which is made in
Brazil with organic certification and is used
for producing surfactants, offers several
important advantages, such as:
produce environmentally friendly
surfactants, eliminating the molecules
of petrochemical origin;
preserve the pre-Amazon forest,
rather than destroying it;
provide a reliable source of income
for tens of thousands of rural families
who are struggling to remain in
their lands of origin and to defend
their right;
respect the health of people who
use detergents and cleaners;
respect the environment where
the detergents, once used,
are released.
www.talybe.it 4

5. Since the 80s the condition of the rural groups (associations and cooperatives)
Babaçu population of the Maranhão state has
become more critical. This is due to the
strengthening of property rights of large
of farmers and babacu walnut pickers,
in order to improve working conditions,
increase the technical and professional
Livre! landowners, the destruction of babaçu
palms (to make room for pastures and
crops for livestock ) and the privatization
of large forest areas.
knowledge and defend the rights of rural
communities.
ASSEMA’s thematic areas of intervention
are: family farming, food safety,
cooperative movement, sustainable rural
The agro-farming families in many development, the fight for human rights,
territories decided to react to this “educação do campo”, strengthening of
situation by joining together in women’s role in rural area communities
cooperatives, associations and small and creating income and employment.
businesses based on the principles
of a solidarity and
partnership economy. After a long period of claims and
This stand, the initiative struggles ASSEMA got approval, in 14
of many leaders of municipalities of the Maranhão state, of
rural communities and the “Babaçu Livre” Law which provides
trade unions, led to the free access for collecting fruits and
foundation in 1989, prohibits the cutting of trees and the
in the Mearim region, indiscriminate exploitation of the land
of the NGO ASSEMA (caused by intensive farming and relevant
(Associação em Áreas use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical
de Assentamento no fertilizers) .
Estado do Maranhão).
ASSEMA supports
and coordinates
the work of various
www.talybe.it 5

6. Coppalj: vegetable fiber as resource
One of the most valued resources of the The “quebradeiras” members leave the
babaçu coconut palm is the excellent picked nuts in some of the collection
vegetable fibers that are made from centers owned by Coppalj. Every week
the leaves and trunks of these old trees: Coppalj carries out the collection and
thanks to them, in fact, you can build processing of the nuts (10 tons per week,
spacious baskets and resistant structures which produce mainly oil and flour).
for house roofs. The Coppalj cooperative pays
In the municipality of Lago do Junco babaçu nuts at a higher price than
(Médio Mearim region of the Maranhão the quebradeiras could get from the
state) the Coppalj cooperative, which “intermediaries” of local processing
was no doubt inspired by the strength industries.
and versatility of the babassu fiber, The nuts purchased from Coppalj are only
coordinates, supports and defends the those of the highest quality, organically
work of many coconut picker members certified and the oil extraction method
(mostly women, “quebradeiras de coco” of too is natural and does not use solvents.
neighboring communities).
The Coppalj Cooperative is a member
of ASSEMA and it relies on it for all
the technical training programs and
assistance for the benefit of its members.
www.talybe.it 6

7. Attention to detail...
The babassu oil, imported into Italy by the The Allegrini company produces
Mondo Solidale Cooperative, is of high surfactants from babassu oil (it has also
quality, because it is made from the best created a small but qualified laboratory
nuts and it is organically certified. for research and development of
surfactants in its factory).
In order to preserve and bring out the For these same reasons we chose a
product’s best features we have chosen medium-sized company as supplier
two small Italian processors who are for the formulation and production of
always very attentive when it comes detergents. It is the Pierpaoli company,
to the production process. Quality was which is specialized in the production of
not the only criteria used in creating conventional and organic detergents.
Talybe detergents: we also looked at the
production of surfactants, which in fact,
is managed by a few large multinational
companies, so as far as processing is
concerned we have favored small-
medium sized Italian companies.
www.talybe.it 7

8. The organic babassu oil is not the also effective... Easy to say, but it showed superior performance
only fair trade quality ingredient is actually quite complex to get in comparison to the market
found in the Talybe home and fully vegetable formulas that have leaders in cosmetics where organic
personal detergent product line. not been tested on animals, that certification is required.
In fact SIPA and Phalada, two do not contain preservatives or The Talybe wellness lines are both
Indians Fair Trade organizations, synthetic perfumes, that do not effective and gentle: they are
produce the essential oils used in have ethoxylates, sequestering dermatologically tested and can
formulations (perfumes are not agents, parabens and formaldehyde be recommended even for people
used). yet which can also offer excellent who are intolerant to standard
SIPA produces several essential washing performance and skin care. petrochemical surfactants and
oils: true lavender, tea tree, orange, synthetic perfumes. In particular,
lemon, cedar wood, vetiver. The detergents were subjected the personal wellness line has been
Phalada produces lemon grass, to comparative effectiveness dermatologically tested on sensitive
citronella, rosemary, peppermint, tests, which showed that the skin and has been nickel tested and
cinnamon, lime, strong mint, wild Talybe household detergents physiological pH.
Indian basil, rosemary essential oils. product line ensures equal or
better performance than leading
conventional products on the The products are certified by
Talybe detergents are not only market. ICEA (BioEcoDetergent and
organic and fair-trade but are BioEcoCosmetics) and LAV (stop to
The Talybe wellness line was animal testing).
evaluated by consumer tests which
www.talybe.it 8

9. Detergents, unfortunately, are Let us now compare some
… and for the a major source of domestic
pollution, once they have been
released into the soil, and this
traditional detergents and
Talybe.
A washing machine with a dose
fact could not be neglected of traditional laundry detergent
when we developed the Talybe requires about 300 liters of
environment detergent product lines.
Detergents’ pollution level
water to be rendered harmless.
A washing machine with a dose
of Talybe laundry detergent
nowadays is no longer requires about 48 liters allowing
measured using the old a saving of 84% of water.
biodegradability concept. It is
measured by evaluating the On average, Talybe detergents
toxicity of substances: this give 70% water savings and as
evaluation, called the Critical a result an equal reduction in
Dilution Volume, is calculated the amount of environmental
by measuring how much water impact when using detergents.
is used to dilute the product to If, for example, all of Italy were
make molecules harmless to to use for one year Talybe
aquatic life. laundry detergent or others
with the same percentage
of water saving, instead of
conventional detergents, a
saving could be made of more
than 60 cubic kilometers of
water: one and a half times the
Garda Lake ... And we are only
talking of laundry!
www.talybe.it 9

10. Along with the classic way of selling detergents
in “disposable” containers (nowadays “recyclable
containers” ...), we have, in recent years, seen the
introduction of the bulk refill method, which allows
you to refill the container, usually rather large (10
or 20 kg), that can be used over and over for the
same function. We too promote reusing instead of
recycling (i.e. - recycling plastic material in order to
regenerate new plastic), because reuse has less an
environmental impact and is energetically more
convenient than any form of recycling.
The consumer, therefore, has an excellent
opportunity to choose the method that respects the
environment the most.
Retailers (world shops, organic shops, etc..) too
have the same advantage: choosing the rigid plastic
containers (10 or 20 liter HDPE containers) for the sale
of products in bulk, and applying the reuse system,
is significantly more advantageous than any form of
recycling.
Let’s make a synthetic comparison between the three
most common sales systems for detergents sold in
Italy:
P The “classic” type, i.e. only recycling: the customer
buys the full plastic bottle, and once it is empty it is
thrown into the plastic recycling bin (the bottles are
collected, transported to specialized companies, the
plastic is melted and new containers are produced).
P The “mixed” type foresees reuse (by the consumer)
along with recycling (carried out by the dealer):
containers for the sale of detergent in bulk are
found in the store. The customer buys the detergent
by filling the empty bottle over and over. Instead,
once the large bulk container is empty the shop
owner places it in the appropriate plastic and paper
container for recycling: so in this case, containers are
used (usually 10 liter canisters) which are made of a
rigid outer cardboard box and an inner plastic bag
that, once emptied, is placed in the plastic recycling
bin. The shop owner then opens another container,
provided by the distributor, and the whole cycle is
repeated.
P The “reuse” type, however, foresees in all phases
Better
(distributor, retailer and customer) the use of
containers (cans and bottles) which are then reused,
without any sort of recycling. No waste is produced,
because the containers are continuously circulating.
to reuse than Below are the steps related to the three different
types of distribution; the materials used, the relevant
passages, and energy costs. In conclusion an energy
balance is carried out.
to recicle!
www.talybe.it 10

11. Less CO2 in the air!
Comparison of Let’s look at the costs in
these steps. The amount
of Kg of carbon dioxide
energy costs... emission in the following
three cases:
A) B) C)
503,72 368,00 280,15
A. 503.72 kg of CO2 equivalent per 1000 B. 368.00 kg of CO2 equivalent per 1000 C. 280.15 kg of CO2 equivalent per 1000
liters of detergent product packaged liters of detergent packaged where liters of detergent packaged in system C
and distributed according to the “classic” “mixed” recycling of the containers is (only reuse) is foreseen when using Talybe
type (type A: recycling of all the bottles, used for refilling (type B: external casing detergents.
without distributing the detergent in is made of cardboard and the inner bag is
bulk); plastic);
If we want to look at these numbers and
percentages based on daily laundries in the washing
machine we can conclude that: the reuse system
enables you to use a 2KW washing machine for
about 172 hours more than in system A and about
75 hours more than the system B. The third system
(only reuse) therefore allows for:
P approximately 115 washes more than system A
(recycling only);
P approximately 50 washes more than system B
(reuse + recycling).
The reuse system thus proves to be the one that
allows you to save more and have a much better
performance over the first two systems.
www.talybe.it 11