“CREATE BEAUTY, NOT WASTE”
The motto of Green Circle Salons says it all. While getting a fantastic new haircut or coloring is great, it is far from the end of the story. There is a dark side to the traditional beauty industry. This sector alone sends 877 lbs. of waste to landfills every single minute. Yes, minute. Every minute! Furthermore, it takes 10-100 years for plastic stemming from beauty treatments to decompose—maybe even longer!
Green Circle Salons aims to change these numbers through focusing efforts on recycling and repurposing beauty wastes. What are beauty wastes? Beauty waste consists of everything that goes into the trash as an effect of the beauty industry. This can include but is not limited to, paper, plastic, and salon-specific materials like hair, foils, excess hair color, and more.
The Story of Green Circle Salons
Green Circle Salons was created in 2009 when founder Shane Price was getting a haircut and asked the stylist where all the waste goes. When the stylist replied, “In the garbage,” he knew there must be a better way. With a passion for the industry and a background in science, he launched Green Circle Salons, the world’s first sustainable salon solution.
To this day, Green Circle Salons recycles and repurposes up to 95% of salon beauty waste including hair clippings, used foils, color tubes, excess hair color, and more. Since 2009, they have managed to keep 7,027,160 lbs. of beauty waste out of landfills and waterways, with no plans to stop there! In addition, they have recruited over 16,000 waste warriors who pledge to keep the planet beautiful.
Impact of Green Circle Salons
As the world faces a serious global climate change crisis, it’s important—now more than ever—to stand up together to bring about change. Green Circle Salons is showing its guests and entire communities that the beauty industry can exist and thrive without creating massive waste. Last year alone, 1,713,476 lbs. of beauty waste was kept out of landfills and waterways by Green Circle Salon Members.
Also, 203,000 kWh of clean energy was generated from utilizing waste-to-energy technology, which is enough to charge 13,500,000 smartphones. 51 metric tons of CO2 were prevented by keeping 143 metric tons of single-use items out of landfills. Wondering how much is that? It is the equivalent of taking 10 cars off the road for an entire year.
How does it Work?
Green Circle Salons provides sustainable solutions for individual types of products and waste. Let’s take a closer look at how they do it.
- Hair: Around 63,000 lbs. of hair is thrown away every day, which contributes to the production of greenhouse gases, leading to climate change. Green Circle Salons repurpose hair by using it to manufacture sustainable plastics, improve hair booms for use in oil spill cleanups, help with stormwater filtration, provide commercial insulation, and humanitarian efforts.
- PPE Waste: The present coronavirus situation is challenging the world in many new ways. Increased PPE waste is one of them. Green Circle Salons has launched a new program, the PPE Recovery Initiative, which helps salon owners separate any non-recyclable contaminated waste, to dispose of it separately, reducing the risk of contaminating recyclable materials. “With the PPE Recovery Initiative, we can ensure that people are kept safe as they return to work, without a single new item entering the landfill,” says Shane Price, founder, and CEO of Green Circle Salons.
- Metals: Over 110,000 lbs. of scrap and waste metal are thrown away every day by salons in North America. Even though Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, the metal used in salons is not accepted by local recycling operations due to potential contamination. However, Green Circle Salons recycles this salon-discarded metal and turns it into bicycle frames and car parts.
- Excess Hair Color: Over 42,000 lbs. of excess hair color is thrown away every day. Unbelievable, right? Excess hair color, lightener, and toner from salons is not only a waste of money, but it can destroy plumbing leading to even costlier repairs. That aside, it causes an even more consequential environmental problem… When rinsed down the drain, these substances find their way into our drinking water and soil, contaminating them. However, salons’ excess hair color is taken by Green Circle Salons to a chemical waste management facility. There, with the help of a third party, it will be converted into clean energy, or the water can be extracted and neutralized for reintroduction back into the water system. It is then clean and ready to be used!
- Single-use Items: Nail files, waxing materials, and cotton swabs are examples of single-use items that go straight into the trash because they are nearly impossible to recycle. Green Circle Salons partners with companies that turn these single-use items into clean energy. The electricity can be used to power homes and businesses.
- Paper and Plastic: Paper and plastics make up more than half of the waste thrown away daily in salons. For the salons that do not have access to local recycling, Green Circle Salons is there to help. They accept any pulp-based products including papers, coffee cups, cardboard, newspapers, flyers, paper bags, magazines, and more. Noteworthy, they also accept any plastic with a recycling symbol on it as well as caps and lids. All paper and plastics are recycled using standard recycling methods and made into new consumer products.
How Can You Become a Part of the Green Circle Salons Solution?
To become a part of the change that the world needs right now, you can join the movement today! If you are a salon owner, you can become a Green Circle Salons member just by filling out a form. 84% of salon guests reveal that they care about a salon’s environmental impact. You can grow your business while being an industry leader and making a difference.
Green Circle Salons offers customized programs that are suitable for salons of any size. With guidance from the program, salon staff learn to separate hair, metal, plastics, paper, and chemicals into bins and send it off to Green Circle Salons using one of their convenient methods. If you are a customer, you can use the tools on the website to find a Green Circle Salons member salon near you by clicking here and enjoy guilt-free beauty trips!
Have you tried a Green Circle Salons salon? How did it make you feel to know you are receiving your beauty services while contributing to a greater good? Tell us in the comments!
