Sustainability
Sustainable Salons is a social enterprise that helps its salon members reduce their impact on the planet and invest in local communities. We have partnered with company to ensure we can do our bit! The company have created a rubbish collection system where we put metals/ paper/ plastics/ ponytails and chemicals into special bins which are collected weekly and taken to Sustainable Salon HQ to be appropriately recycled, instead of heading straight to landfill.
Metals & Foils Recycled
Did you know aluminium is infinitely recyclable? All of the used foils, colour tubes and cans are recycled back into aluminium then shipped right back to our salon in the form of new and shiny (and completely recycled) products! In the salon we use Foil Me Foil- a fully recyclable foil that can be repurposed by brands such as Sustainable Salons.
Paper Recycled
Whether it’s the stacks of magazines that keep clients occupied, paper or cardboard packaging from product deliveries, wooden spatulas or just plain old office paper, we can recycle it! We send all paper products to our specialised recycling partners who grade, sort, shred and bale it. These bales then get sent to paper mills to make new, recycled paper products. During its reprocessing, the mills test the mixture and add virgin fibres to help with any breakdown of the recycled paper fibres.
Plastic Recycled
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and even then microplastics remain polluting our land and oceans. With the salon industrys’ heavy use of plastics, we knew a real impact can (and has!) been made by recycling a huge amount of plastic items such as colour mixing bowls and empty shampoo bottles. Sustainable salons works with other brands to repurpose these salon plastics into handy items such as dog leads and sunglasses.
Ponytails made
Thinking of donating your ponytail? If its at least 20cm long and virgin hair (meaning never coloured before) you can help make a difference in someones life! We send ponytails directly to wigmakers and to charitable organisations such as Variety and the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation (AAAF) to be made into charitable wigs or to fund life-changing programs. All hair that we sweep up at the end of every haircut is collected and sent away. This is then used in ocean oil spills to soak it all up! Did you know some local dog groomers participate in this too so it’s good to keep an eye out! We are very proud to say that Sustainable Salons is the largest charitable collector of ponytails in the WORLD. All those valuable locks go to charitable organisations and wigmakers to change the lives for those suffering from medically-induced hair loss.
Chemical Cycling
Did you know 95% of salon chemical waste is actually water? So why not recycle it! Instead of all these chemicals being rinsed down the sink and polluting our waterways, we help give them a second life by neutralising them to be reused as recycled water. We dump any leftover bleach/colour into the chem buckets which are then collected and taken back to the depot to then be recycled.
Interested in learning more?
Learn more about Sustainable Salons and what they do to help our planet!