Partnership For The Planet.
It’s a good day when you find like-minded people to do good stuff with. And today is a good day. We’re super excited to announce our partnership with Green Salon Collective; a bunch of humans who, like us, are on a mission to make hairdressing a sustainable and ethical industry.
Green Salon Collective is a recycling programme that not only collects and repurposes salon waste across the UK and Ireland – everything from hair, foils, plastics and card to salon towels and PPE – but also helps salons develop more sustainable business practices through education and accreditation programmes.
It began last year when a group of environmental experts, hairdressers and eco-campaigners recognised that although the hairdressing industry is wonderful, it can also be very wasteful. Their vision? To raise the standard of the hair and beauty industry by enabling salons to become more ethical and sustainable environments for not only the salon, but for the stylists and salon guests too.
We spoke to co-founder Fry Taylor to get the low-down on this awesome initiative.
When we were only six weeks in and we had a small mountain of 350kgs of metals in our depot getting bailed up. It was the first time in the UK hair foil was being recycled; it was a real wow moment to see not only the huge amount of foils from only a few salons, but seeing the potential for change in the industry.
Our industry has been operating in a linear economy for far too long. Traditionally, all hairdressing waste is sent to landfill and very little (if any!) gets recycled. There are no benefits for anyone.
The circle in our logo represents the circular economy that we are creating within our industry. With every single decision we make, the first thought is always, “How will this benefit our industry, the environment and/or the community?”
When we deal with salon waste we are always thinking about how we can reuse, repurpose or recycle this material rather than send it off to landfill. With this mindset, we can create a circular economy with each waste stream we receive.
Well, the B Corp™ application has been pretty stringent (as you well know!), but ultimatelytwo of the three founders are ex hairdressers and 50% (3 of 6) of the core team originate from a hair or beauty background, so we have a legitimate interest in both the environment and our industry.
I’d say, think again! Our 550+ member salons charge their clients a £1 green fee on every visit, the clients are happy to pay the green fee, and this extra revenue completely funds being with a member of Green Salon Collective. You can even get 15% off your joining fee by being an Organic Colour System Salon.
It’s especially relevant to us, change comes from people working together, the word “collective” was chosen for this very reason.
We should be in the EU very soon; in North America, there is a fabulous company called Green Circle Salons, and in Oceania, there is Waste Free Systems and Sustainable Salons.
We all have an enormous feeling of pride & positivity, knowing we have laid strong foundations to get our industry on a sustainable path. We all feel inspired by how we have been supported in the industry; watching salons and freelancers get involved and then see them develop is inspirational.
And how do we feel about this partnership?
Organic Colour Systems Salon Director Ian Bishop says: “We’re incredibly excited to be working with The Green Salon Collective and offering this service to our customers. Sustainability has been at the core of what we do for over 30 years and we see this as a great fit.”
Are you a salon in the United Kingdom or Ireland looking to do your bit to help make our industry and our world a better place? Find out how you can join The Green Salon Collective by getting in touch.
