The beauty industry can be not so beautiful at times, collectively making about 150 million pounds of waste a year. That’s about 420,000 lbs. of waste added to our landfills, and heaven forbid, our oceans each day. This is disastrous to our planet and to future generations, so are we going to stand by and just do nothing, or are we going to stand up and do something? I pledge to stand up and do something, because this planet is the only home we’ve got, and we need to start acting like it.
Every day salons dispose of things like; hair cuttings, unused color, foils, and gloves to name a few. With the proper recycling programs, the beauty industry has the ability to divert a large portion of our beauty waste made in the salon away from our landfills and ocean. At W+W, were doing our part, by using a program called Green Circle Salons to recycle and repurpose 95% of our beauty waste. Green Circle Salons partner with over 40 like-minded companies across North America, including recycling facilities, chemical waste facilities, clean energy producers, bio-composite plastic producers and more.
So, what do we recycle at W+W and where does it go? We recycle all hair clippings, unused mixed color, and metals through the Green Circle Salons program. We ship out all of these materials and then Green Circle Salons sorts them and gets them to the correct facility for processing. Hair clippings will either be; turned into things like bio-composite plastic, composed with other organic waste, used to research and develop new environmental technology like insulation and storm water filtration, or used for oil booms in oil cleanups. The unused mixed color is processed into clean energy or separated into water and oil, then cleaned and reintroduced into our water system or blended into fuel. Used foils, color tubes and aluminum cans are sorted out into grade and type, then melted down into aluminum sheets which is then used to make car and bike parts. Like, that’s all pretty freaking cool, right?! Being a Green Circle Salons partner is something I am super proud of! It’s so easy to do, takes minimal extra time and the cost is incorporated into service costs, so it won’t create a deficit for your salon.
If you wanted to take eco-conscious and recycling a step further, you could offer a line of products that are packaged in infinitely recyclable packaging! At W+W we offer our guests Oway hair care, a salon quality line of hair care that’s packaged in glass amber and aluminum, which is infinitely recyclable, more protective of the integrity of the product, will never release toxins and will never contain potentially harmful chemicals. And, if you’re wondering about the performance… this product line performs like a high-end + luxurious salon brand, with a product for whatever your clients need may be!
I want to challenge you to start the hard dialogue surrounding the negative impacts our industry has on the planet, because, we really can’t ignore the effects any longer. Especially when there are small actions we could be taking every day to make a difference. So, how are you going to make a difference today? You could start by just having the conversation or reaching out to a recycling program or reach out to me! Let’s chat and come up with a plan to reduce your salons footprint and become influencers in loving our planet a little more.
B Holistically Wealthy 