Wax Cycle

The wax cycle refers to the path of beeswax within a beekeeping operation: the bees build out combs, the beekeeper cuts worn-out or surplus combs out of the frames, melts them down and has new foundation cast from them, which is hung back into the colonies. In this way the circle between wax production and wax consumption closes within the same apiary.

This cycle becomes problematic if it remains completely closed, that is, if only one's own, repeatedly melted-down wax is used. Beeswax is strongly fat-soluble and thus readily takes up residues, for example from varroa treatments, essential oils, or plant protection products brought in from the surroundings. If the same wax is melted down and recast again and again, such residues can accumulate over the years, because melting itself removes hardly any of them.

To avoid this, it is recommended in practice to open up the cycle again and again: part of the melted-down wax is taken out of one's own foundation production and processed into candles or other products or sold instead, while fresh, as uncontaminated as possible wax is bought in or obtained from particularly clean sources such as cappings wax and drone frame wax. Cappings wax and the wax from cut-out drone brood are considered comparatively low in residues, because they hardly come into contact with treatment products.

For beekeepers this means, in everyday practice, not thoughtlessly feeding old combs back into the same cycle again and again, but consciously separating wax for one's own comb building from wax for other purposes. A common mistake is the assumption that self-produced wax is automatically cleaner than bought wax, whereas wax that has circulated within one's own operation for many years can in fact be more heavily contaminated than freshly obtained foundation from a controlled source.

Quellen (2)

• Offener Wachskreislauf, die-honigmacher.de
• Handlungsempfehlungen zur Vermeidung chemischer Belastungen von Bienenwachs, LfU Bayern

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