WE’RE PROUD TO BE A SUSTAINABLE SALON
and a member of the Sustainable Salon initiative
BEAUTY SHOULDN’T COST THE EARTH
We believe that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility if we want to leave the earth a better place for future generations.
For some time, we’d been conscious of the footprint that our salon was leaving and when we came across the Sustainable Salon program, we knew it was what we’d been looking for.
Sustainable Salons is the first comprehensive resource recovery program designed for the salon environment that not only makes it easy to do the right thing but gives back to the local community in a number of significant ways.
Through the program, we’re now able to recycle most of our waste including aluminium, foil, cardboard, magazines, metal and disposable towels.
All our hair clippings go towards cleaning up oil spills and our pony tails of 20cm or longer go to create wigs for cancer or alopecia patients.
If you’re a salon owner, we encourage you to consider joining the program, we’re certainly glad that we did.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Information courtesy of Sustainable Salons
• The program has hundreds of salon members (and growing!) in the hairdressing, beauty and pet-grooming sectors across Australia and New Zealand as part of the journey to zero waste.
• Sustainable Salons provides all in-salon separation bins and outside collection bins to suit the salon’s needs, and offers a fortnightly collection service directly to the salon door.
• Plastic packaging is sent to specialist local plastics recyclers where it’s cleaned and made into outdoor furniture and new product packaging, keeping it in circulation and out of our oceans!
• All aluminium, foil, colour tubes, cardboard, paper, magazines, razor blades, unwanted tools and select disposables are sold for recycling, and the proceeds are donated to OzHarvest and KiwiHarvest to provide meals for hungry people. A full head of foils provides a quarter of a meal to someone in need!
• Hair clippings are collected from the salon floor and stuffed into stockings to make Hair Booms that will help clean up oil spills along our coastlines! Hair is also repurposed in local community gardens for composting or used in sustainable art installations to educate the community.
• All collected ponytails 20cm or longer are distributed to charitable organisations to create wigs for those suffering from cancer or alopecia. Sustainable Salons is the largest donor of ponytails in the Southern Hemisphere!
• By collecting small amounts from a large salon network, Sustainable Salons is the first company to recycle excess chemicals in the salon industry. These are pooled and sent to chemical recycling plants where they’re neutralised and turned into recycled water used in roadworks and construction.
• In partnership with Endeavour Foundation, Sustainable Salons is creating stronger futures for people with a disability by providing purposeful work within our material collection and processing streams. Supported Employees head out on the road with trained staff members to collect resources from salons in several areas across our network, while another team sorts and processes the materials for repurposing!
• Sustainably-minded solutions are promoted to help the salon make greener choices! Via Rewards Points, salons can access environmentally-friendly options for everyday salon products, such as eco cleaning products, recycled toilet paper, biodegradable coffee pods, recycled foil, biodegradable towels, biodegradable gloves and more!
• Through various community organisations, salon professionals in the Sustainable Salons network are encouraged to volunteer their time and skills for those who don’t have access to these services in our local area.
• The Sustainable Salons Creative Ambassador, Shaun McGrath, creates artistic head pieces using the materials collected from our Sustainable Salons to highlight how amazing solutions can be found when we learn to give things a second life.
• The Sustainable Salons Directory (http://sustainablesalons.org/storelocator) is a simple search function on the website where sustainably-minded clients can go to find a Sustainable Salons member in their area. This feature helps drive more clients through the salon’s door and attracts a new calibre of environmentally- and community-minded staff.
• Salons interested in joining the program should register their details at http://sustainablesalons.org/ and the Sustainable Salons Manager in their area will get in touch directly to discuss how they can join the journey to zero waste!
THE SUSTAINABLE SALON FOOTPRINT
The Sustainable Salon Network is committed to reducing its ecological footprint, supporting charitable causes and implementing environmentally-sustainable practices in all that we do. Here’s what we’ve achieved on our journey to zero waste!*
- 52,000kg of plastic kept in circulation and out of landfill
- 70,800kg of paper recycled
- 81,700kg of metals diverted from landfill
- 7,500 litres of excess chemicals recycled back into water
- 7.1 tonnes of hair collected for The Hair Boom Project
- 25,300 ponytails collected resulting in 1,265 wigs for cancer and alopecia sufferers
- 48,000 meals provided for the homeless via OzHarvest
- Saved the same amount of CO2 as 180 flights from Sydney to London
- Recycled 800kg of e-waste, reducing the amount of raw materials mined and preventing toxins from leaching into the environment
- Saved enough water to fill 248,620 baths
*This information reflects Sustainable Salons activities from Feb 2015 – Nov 2017.