A Quebec company that makes lubricants from canola oil has doubled its sales in the last year, thanks in part to a U.S. certification program for bioproducts.
Last year Bio-Lub Canada of Trois Rivieres, which makes diesel fuel conditioners, chain saw oil, penetrating oil and biodegreasers, satisfied the criteria for a U.S. Department of Agriculture program called Bio-Preferred.
The third party certification, which allows Bio-Lub Canada to use a “USDA Certified Biobased Product” label, has been a boon for the company, said Bio-Lub president Michel Cordeau.
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“We had the USDA label and that’s the way we started to sell the product. It’s working really well. From May 2011 we doubled our sales,” he said.
Sales in February were six times higher than February 2011, he added.
Bio-Lub Canada, which has been in business for five years, pursued certification to reassure customers, and critics, that its products are made from plants and are biodegradable.
“We didn’t want to do greenwashing,” Cordeau said.
“We didn’t (want) to have a smart person to come behind us and say they aren’t really green.”
Bio-Lub buys high oleic canola oil from a Montreal company, which sources canola from Western Canada.
It sells its products to an assortment of businesses but has chosen to focus on the Canadian market, despite its USDA seal of approval.
“We wanted to plant ourselves really well in Canada, then we’ll play around (elsewhere),” Cordeau said. “We now have someone in Saskatchewan marketing our products.”
Cordeau chose USDA certifications because Canada doesn’t have a comparable program.
“In Canada, we’re a very, very rich country, but we are very poor in certification,” Cordeau said.
It is a generation behind Europe when it comes to bio-based products, he added.
“Europe is about 30 years ahead of Canada. We’re a little slow here. The oldest certification that is in Europe is the German one called Blue Angel. They’ve been around since 1977.”
