TWO friends from Blaenavon have started an ethical candle business, through which a large percentage of the profits are donated to a range of charities, after following through on a childhood pact.

Nic Price and Louise White, both 51, launched Elgam Ethicals 18 months ago, making and selling candles which use wax from vegetable origin, such as rapeseed or soy, and none of the ingredients are tested on animals or contain animal products.

They source their products from British companies to reduce their carbon footprint, turn recycled and reusable materials like tin and glass into containers, and offer a refill service to cut down on recycling.

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The Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School employees made a childhood pact to start a business together when they reached middle age.

“Louise and myself have been lifelong friends and grew up in Elgam Avenue in the 1970s,” said Mrs Price. “We were born in hospital two days apart and then when we were four, we played around a lot living in Elgam Avenue.

“We decided when we reached 50 - which seemed another lifetime away at the time - that we would like to have our own business and be sensible by then.

“Well, 50 came around very swiftly and we stuck to our words and started up our project.

“It’s something we have always said we would do, and we have actually put it to practice. We have really enjoyed it.

“It’s more of a project than a business. Any that we sell, we decided how much we are going to give to charity. They are usually environmental or animal welfare charities.”

Ethical, cruelty-free candles from Elgam Ethicals. Picture: Nic Price.

Ethical, cruelty-free candles from Elgam Ethicals. Picture: Nic Price.

“We’ve also donated to the local food bank and homeless charities, as we totally believe the mistreatment of the environment is having an effect on humans through job loss and illness, resulting in people losing their homes or struggling to pay bills,” Mrs White. “The pandemic is an example of this.”

The friends settled on candles as they found there wasn’t any affordable candles that were environmentally friendly. Mrs Price has been a vegetarian for 35 years, so they both wanted to ensure their products were cruelty-free as well.

“To buy a good quality candle can be very expensive,” said Mrs White. “Our aim therefore has been to produce environmentally-friendly and cruelty-free candles which are good quality, at an affordable price.”

“We continue to strive to improve our products as time progresses,” said Mrs Price. “Our aim was to produce an excellent candle, which is as environmentally friendly as possible, while hopefully starting up our own small charity highlighting animal welfare and the environment.”

You can find out more by searching 'Elgam Ethicals' on Facebook.