Torquay salon fights waste

BETWEEN the countless foils and stylish cuts, the waste produced by hair salons can be significant, although one Torquay business is fighting back and committed to going green.

Something Hair and Makeup has taken the leap and officially become a green salon, now recycling 95 per cent of its waste.

Operating as part of Sustainable Salons, the local business now diverts as much of its single-use products as possible from landfill, giving them a second life.

Something Hair and Makeup owner Jess Soldani said becoming a sustainable salon was a massive task, given the amount of waste produced within the industry.

“There is so much product that is one-time use only, it’s just all going into landfill, not to mention all the chemical waste that goes down the sink,” she said.

“Now through Sustainable Salons, we have the ability to recycle and separate pretty much everything.”

Sustainable Salons is an initiative aiming to make sustainable businesses the norm and pioneered an easy-to-use recovery program that makes a measurable impact.

Every piece of waste generated from the salon gets carefully divided into five separate bins, alongside a chemical bin for collection by Sustainable Salons.

“From there, they then separate it all so it all goes in a couple of our bins that are in clear bags and then they go through all the recyclable materials and recycle absolutely everything they can,” Soldani said.

Foil, a staple in many salons and often used in large amounts, can be recycled and sold on to be repurposed and is a material that can be reused multiple times.

As part of the Sustainable Salons model for every four heads of colour using foil that is then recycled and sold on, one meal is donated to Oz Harvest.

Rather than getting washed down the sink, chemical waste gets collected and filtered and eventually gets used during construction on roads.

Even the leftover hair that sits on the salon floor has a use, being turned into hair bombs and used to soak up oil spills, the oil can then be squeezed out and reused up to five times.

In the past, people wanting to donate their hair have had to go through a lengthy process, meeting a set of criteria before they can even get the chop.

Through Sustainable Salons, the process has been simplified and enables more people to get involved and donate to a good cause.

“If a client wants to cut off 20cm of hair or more, we can collect that and donate that,” Soldani said.

“We put it ziplock bags, throw it in our hair recycling bags, they [Sustainable Salons] fish it out and then they go towards making wigs for people with hair loss due to alopecia, cancer treatments and things like that, it’s amazing.”

Something Hair and Makeup was inspired to go green after years of using the brand Nak Hair, also partnered with Sustainable Salons, and constantly trying to reduce their footprint.

“I’ve used Nak for a while, really love their approach, looked into the sustainable salons thing, went to a business conference that Nak held and where Sustainable Salons were.

“I was educated and I just walked away and said this is something we need to do, we need to do it now, every day, every bit of rubbish is not good.”

Something Hair and Makeup is one of two Sustainable Salons on the Surf Coast, however across the region and the country the movement is gaining popularity.

“I feel like our Torquay community is very planet-conscious and letting people know that we are here if you want to be part of the movement, we’re making the right decisions for our future and our kids’ future,” Soldani said.

“It is a lot of hard work, which is why it’s taken us quite some time to get to a point where we feel comfortable that we can do this and execute it well and really educate our clients.

“Choosing a Sustainable Salon is impacting everything really positively, the environment, the charity organisations that sustainable salons stand for as well.”

Soldani encourages everyone to jump online and have a look at the initiative and ask any questions they may have.

For more information, head to sustainablesalons.org