Hair cuttings from salons are being used to mop up oil spills, and hair bleaches and dyes are being burned to create energy as part of a scheme to make the hairdressing industry greener.
Over the past 10 months, 550 salons across the UK and Ireland have signed up to the Green Salon Collective (GSC), an initiative that reduces salon waste through recycling and education programmes.
“Hair salons are one of the biggest contributors to waste on the high street,” said GSC co-founder Paul Seaward. “We were shocked to see how far behind the UK is with salon sustainability. This was long overdue.”
About 99 per cent of hair cuttings from salons are sent to landfill sites, GSC says, but as part of the initiative the group has started collecting cuttings to make hair booms – cotton or nylon tubes packed with hair, which are placed on the shores of beaches to stop oil spills from spreading.
GSC says 500kg of hair has so far been collected, of which 50kg has been used in clean-up operations.
Other leftover hair is given to farmers to use in compost as it contains protein and nitrogen, which enrich plants.
Hair colourings and bleach are usually washed down the sink, which poses a risk as they can leach toxins that pollute soil and groundwater. Salons participating in the scheme are able to collect the waste liquids and send them to a burning facility to generate electricity for the national grid.
The scheme also makes it easier to recycle hairdressing foil, of which only about 1 per cent is recycled. Within the first three months of the scheme, 2.2 tonnes of foil was sent for recycling.
Karine Jackson, whose Covent Garden salon joined GSC last year, says: “Every salon should be joining – we have to take responsibility for our own waste. This is just the start of something huge.”
‘Green fee’
GSC charges a one-off £125 payment to join the scheme, and encourages salons to add a small “green fee” to their prices to cover this.
Paula Todd, the owner of the Green Ginger salon in Newcastle, says: “The feedback has been so positive, it makes clients value what we do and know that we care a bit more, not just for them but for the whole environment.”
Helen Bird, strategic technical manager for plastics at Wrap, the government’s waste advisory body, says: “With nearly 90 per cent of us now regularly recycling at home, more of us want to ensure that we recycle all that we can at work too. It’s great to hear of initiatives such as the Green Salon Collective to enable the recycling of valuable resources such as aluminium foil.”
– Guardian
Green Salon Collective participants
Hair By Jenna Lavery
2 Kings Park,
Belfast
Lynette Murray Hair
Portview Trade Centre,
Belfast.
lynettemurrayhair.com.
Urbanroots
4 Connsbrook Avenue,
Belfast.
https://urbanrootsbelfast
Rebecca’s Hair Studio
4 Woodburn Road,
Carrickfergus.
https://www.rebeccashairstudio.co.uk/
Jayne Mcknight
2 The Grange.
Banbridge.
lilmisscolour.com
Cut Social
377 North Circular Road,
Phibsborough
Dublin.
https://www.cut-social.com/
Maven Hair Studio
9 Eustace Street,
Dublin, hairmaven.ie
Iris Dublin
84a Ballymun Road,
Glasnevin.
instagram.com/iris.dublin/?hl=en
Romina Daniel Hair & Beauty
Unit 7, Palmerstown Shopping Centre.
rominadaniel.ie
Cathy Mc Nulty Bridal Hair
75 Hillcrest Close, Lucan.
bridalhair.ie
Zero One Salon
25 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2.
zeroonesalon.ie
Wella Studios
3-10 Chancery Lane,
Dublin 8
The Studio
13 Oxford Lane
Dublin 6.
thestudio.ie
Vanilla Hair
5 Wynnefield Road, Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
vanillahair.ie
Wildflower
10 Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
wearewildflower.com
The Craft
Main Street, Dundrum.
thecraft.ie
Susan Collins Home of Hair
Church Road, Wicklow.
susancollinshair.com
Ebano Ballinteer
Ballinteer Shopping Centre,
Dublin 16,
https://ebano.ie
Hair By Lucy At the Lounge
Co Wicklow.
https://www.facebook.com/TheLoungeHairAndBeautyRathnew/
Kopa Hair Salon
The Courtyard Shopping Centre,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.
https://www.kopa.ie/
The Hair Company
5 Church Street,
Claudy, Derry.
https://thehaircompanyni.com/
Sarah Boyle
23 Sand Hills,
Carlow.
sarahboyle.ie
Locks & Lace
The Cottage,
LarEasa, Strandhill,
Co Sligo
Hair FX
2 Bridge Street,
Tipperary.
https://www.hairfx.ie/
Stylistic Hair Salon
Roscam, Co Galway.
http://stylistic.ie/
Base Colour & Co
Annacotty,
Limerick.
https://basecolourandco.ie/
Rebecca Matthews Hair
Homefarm,
Galway.
https://www.instagram.com/rebeccamatthews_bellehair_/
Goldirocks Hair Salon
3 Oliver Plunkett Street,
Cork.
https://goldirockssalon.com/
Pin-Up Hair,
Laherfinee, Inishannon,
Co Cork.
pinuphair.ie
Hair by Aisling
Toughmacdermody, Drinagh, Co Cork.
https://hairbyaisling.business.site/
