Having lived through the excesses of the 80s. and 90s, seen what damage the
misuse of natural resources first hand throughout the world, and now being a
sustainability champion representing the hairdressing industry on how we can make
positive changes for a brighter future, I wanted to share some of the best bits about
WHY its important and how YOU CAN HELP us get to the keep our beautiful world
green and clean.
Plastic is accumulating in the oceans of the planet so quickly it is predicted that by
2050 the mass of plastic in the world’s oceans will exceed the mass of all the fish. “If
current levels of consumption continue, by 2050 there will be 12 billion tons of plastic
in landfills, equivalent to 35,000 Empire State Buildings.” SCARY!!
This is not the world I want my children to inherit and I plan to do something about it
now!! Or as Greta Thunberg says “I want you to act as if the house is on fire”. Greta
Thunberg
Lets look at some ways we can act now to help our industry and our planet.
1. Take your carbon footprint of your business and all your team.
Start somewhere. If you know where you are, it more likely that you will be more
vigilant to make smarter choices and if you are already doing great things, well done
and you can pat yourself on the back and share your success with others starting
their sustainability journey. An easy place to get yours is at
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/. Do it, share it with your teams and plan to improve every
quarter and have a realistic goal.
2. Reduce your water consumption.
The average British person can use up to 142 litres of water a day. The water we use
with products in the bath, shower or sink, as well as in processing and
manufacturing, washes into our rivers and oceans. With it go chemicals, toxins and
other pollutants that are damaging vital ecosystems that we all depend on. AVEDA
Discovered that we can save 6 gallons of water by cutting 3 minutes from our shower
time, also encouraging your clients to go an extra day without washing their hair will
reduce the water waste by half.
3. Make organic a priority
Preserving biodiversity is essential to a healthy future planet. What would happen if
all of our soil became sterile, and we no longer could sustain the ecosystem? It’s up
to you to refuse when product companies don’t insist on organic ingredients. But
buyer beware… only 1% organic material is all that’s needed for a company to claim
a beauty product is organic.
4. Just say no to single use plastic
We can’t escape using plastic, it is everywhere and a very useful material. It can also
be harmful too if it is left to decompose on the landfill and break down into micro
plastics that get into our soil and rivers and eventually our drinking water. So I urge
you to only buy plastics that won’t be going into landfill.
5 .Request your suppliers to send your products without packaging.
Packaging forms 70% of the industry’s waste. Cardboard and paper packaging
contributes to the loss of 18 million acres of forest each year. Every year, 120 billion
units of packaging are produced by the global cosmetics industry. Question your
suppliers to look at their sustainability practices and even save money!
6. Refuse, reuse,renew
The best (and cheapest) advise I can give you is to ask yourself BEFORE you
purchase something, is “do I really need this”? Do I have something that is similar or
can I hold out longer before I need to buy it? Can I find an alternative item that is
from another home and give it a new lease of life? It gets you thinking creatively. My
local council has a “Repair Shop” café every couple of weeks where you can fix
things and re create into something new. Everything from old clothes, to toasters, to
broken jewellery gets a second chance. See if something in your neighbourhood is
being offered.
7. Look at your waste streams, how can you go “zero to landfill”?
Did you know you can recycle your hair and metal, no longer sending it to landfill and
even doing good in the world? There are several companies in the UK right now that
take your hair to clean up oil spills, and recycling your foil (foil has an infinite
lifecycle) and helping charities with proceeds from the profits. Depending on where in
UK you are, you should find a recycling partner who does zero to landfill waste
management. More than 98% of salons don’t recycle their foil, and it takes 500 years
to braek down foil in a landfill. Check out Green Salon Collective or First Mile to start
the journey to net zero.
“The best time to go Net Zero was 20 years ago, the next best time is now.” Net Zero
Now
8. Replace light bulbs for LEDs and include low water flow mechanisms
A little bit of an investment that will pay for itself is to replace old light fixtures and
bulbs for modern, energy efficient ones. One bulb will last years as opposed to
months and the cost to run is peanuts compared to old ones. Switch out shampoo
shower heads for water reduction ones that give higher power spray through clever
smaller holes reducing water waste and boiler bills by 65%.
9. Colour waste
Consider what you could save on your bills if you reduced your colour cost by 25 to
40%. Accurately measuring and reweighing your colour bowls to precisely reducing
your colour waste. For instance, If you spend 1000 a month on colour, your saving
250- to 400 a month or up to 4800 a year!! Not to mention you can reduce your
colour waste down the drains limiting hazardous chemicals in water systems.
10. Carbon Offsetting
What is Carbon offsetting? “An action or activity (such as the planting of trees) that
compensates for the emission of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere. A carbon offset occurs when an individual company or organisation
directly or indirectly (by funding projects in other locations) removes greenhouse
gases from the atmosphere.” You can seek ways to “Offset” some of the carbon
footprint that you create in beautiful ways and be a green champion, not a
greenwasher.. Commit to a goal a month for giving back to mama earth.
By reducing your waste, spending on items you don’t actually need, reducing water
and energy bills, and shouting out to your clients that you are a force for good and
that by your business being sustainable, they are doing good too.. you will also
increase your turnover too.. clients are looking for more responsible businesses now
more than ever.
“Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet,
and never before have we had the power to do something about that… The future of
humanity and indeed, all life on earth, now depends on us.” – Sir David Attenborough
Sources:
Net Zero Salon Protocol by Loreal
The Courage to Change by British Beauty Council
Planet Positive Beauty Guide by Sustainable Beauty Coalition
Vish.co.uk
GreenSalonCollective.co.uk