Salon RESource: Your Sustainable Salon Toolkit
Anne Veck and Keith Mellen, the directors at Anne Veck Limited have put together a guide to being a more sustainable salon. Everything below is a culmination of their work to help salons be more eco-friendly. It will be updated quarterly, as more inspiration and knowledge is added!
Business as usual is not an option: Let’s get that clear from the start. The world is facing emergencies in health, human rights, climate heating and extinctions – but what can we do? It can seem that the problems in the world today are so big, the only sensible call to action is to go ostrich and bury your head in the sand. However, because we are in the hairdressing industry, we actually have the power to make a real difference. We use huge amounts of energy, water, plastic and chemicals, and we produce large amounts of waste.
- At Anne Veck Oxford, we have been trying to make a difference by reducing demand for energy, lowering the salon’s energy use, meeting our reduced energy needs from renewable sources, reducing our own and our clients’ carbon footprints, reducing waste through more efficient systems and by using ethical and sustainable products and packaging whenever possible.
Quick Wins
Responsible Travel
• Walk, cycle or e-scooter everywhere you can, including the daily commute. • Alternatively, take public transport. Encourage your team to do the same.
Be Switched On... And Off
• Only switch on lights in areas you are using. Label the switches, to make it clear which area they control.
• Only switch on lights in areas you are using. Label the switches, to make it clear which area they control.
• Switch off equipment and tools when not in use, especially when you are closed.
• Check that your electrical equipment and white goods have top A-ratings.
• Remember to have your electrical equipment PAT tested each year, not only for safety but also because properly maintained tools operate more efficiently.
Let There Be Light
• Don’t block your windows. Use as much natural light as possible.
• Don’t block your windows. Use as much natural light as possible.
• Install LED lights. You can buy them at your local supermarket, DIY superstore or online and they give brilliant light quality, as well as saving energy by lasting for a very long time.
In the Hot Water
• Heating hot water is the most expensive and energy intensive activity in a salon, so everything you can do to reduce using it is important.
• Heating hot water is the most expensive and energy intensive activity in a salon, so everything you can do to reduce using it is important.
• This includes washing clients’ hair, washing towels and gowns and washing clothes at home.
• Wash at lower temperatures where possible (better for hair condition too), or on the cold-water programme. For health and safety reasons – including the prevention of Legionnaires’ Disease and protection against Covid-19 – towels and any items that will be in contact with other people should be washed at 60 degrees. (Not any higher, as that will waste energy.)
• Don't waste hot water when washing up.
• Insulate your water pipes (hot to reduce heat loss and cold to avoid condensation) by lagging them with foam tubes.
• Draught-proof your doors and windows with rubber seals or brushes along the entire perimeter of each door and window.
Water Works
Water Works
• Make sure water pipes are checked regularly and leaks are reported and fixed.
• Turn off the tap; don't leave it running while applying shampoo in the shampoo bowl, or at any other time.
• Repair dripping taps immediately.
• Put a sign on each tap as a reminder to turn it off.
• When you use the washing machine, fill it to capacity.
• Encourage your clients to go an extra day without washing their hair. • Research from Aveda and Water Aid suggests that by cutting three minutes from your shower, you can save six gallons of water
Reduce Plastic Consumption
Avoid It...
• Avoid products containing plastic micro beads and nurdles. Most manufacturers have phased these out, but do check.
• Choose products that are 'naked' – that is with no plastic packaging, e.g. soap not hand cleanser.
Ban it...
• Ban single use plastic drinks bottles from the salon – offer filtered tap water instead, served in glasses.
• Ban single use plastic drinks bottles from the salon – offer filtered tap water instead, served in glasses.
• Do not serve drinks in single use plastic cups. Serve them in glasses, cups or mugs, or give your clients reusable keep cups with your logo on.
• Resist offering single use cups and bottled water during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ask clients to bring their own drinks.
• Do not offer plastic bags. Encourage clients to bring their own bags to reuse or, if you must have bags, offer biodegradable recycled plastic, paper or reusable canvas.
• Buy biodegradable compostable bin liners – available online at around £10 for a roll of 25 x 50 litre bags
Can't Avoid It Completely?
• Choose products of all sorts that are contained in recycled plastic.
• If it must be made from plastic, choose items made from recycled plastic, e.g. furniture! Look up The Plastic Company and British Recycled Plastic for ideas.
Plastic-Free Tea
Plastic-Free Tea
• Some of the most popular tea bags are made with plastic and leak millions of plastic particles into our cups of tea. Check out this list of plastic free tea bags – and also avoid teabags with strings attached to them with metal staples!
Refill and Reuse
• Sign up at Refill to list your salon as a place offering free water refills to the public. This helps cut down on single use plastic – and gets new people through the door!
• Recycle packaging and other unused items. Use them for decorations, pen holders, plant pots or to hold pins etc.
Glove Up
Glove Up
• Use biodegradeable nitrile gloves. There are lots on the market – look online! • Latex gloves are biodegradable but latex can cause allergic reactions for some people. Vinyl is cheap but offers less protection against chemicals than nitrile, is manufactured using oil and degrades into micro plastics.
• Green Salon Collective do a 100% plant-based, plastic-free, compostable glove which is great for colour application, but can’t be used to take colours off as it is loose fitting and can let water in.
Reduce Waste
Measure It
• Record how much colour you dispose of daily by collecting it in a bucket. Keep a tally and aim to reduce the amount, weekly.
• Work towards zero colour waste and reduce costs! There are apps available to help, at a cost – see the next section for more information.
Be Safe, Not Sorry
• Sort your waste responsibly, as required by your local collection service. Hopefully they make it easy for you to recycle the relevant recyclables and food waste separately from the nasty stuff that has to go to landfill or incineration. Look at alternative collection services including Green Salon Collective Bin It
• Check that your team is putting stuff in the correct bin – and correct them it if not!
• Dispose of colour waste (which may be hazardous waste depending on what products you are using) and other waste as safely as possible. Try not to dilute it with water and wash it down the drain. This is, of course, far less damaging if your colour is organic and biodegradable but there is an alternative provided by Green Salon Collective, called General Waste to Energy.
• Make sure that other unsuitable materials including pieces of plastic, contaminated salon towels, contaminated food packages, wax strips, wet tissues, cotton buds, PPE and any other small sticky items that you may be using (eg. wet wipes, gum, etc.). are not flushed down the sink or loo into the drains and, ultimately, the seas. Instead, add these to your Green Salon Collective General Waste bin. This should save you money compared with local council general waste collection.
Hair Today...
• Put the hair you cut to good use. Give good quality long hair to the Little Princess Trust and the rest can be used to make oil collecting booms by Green Salon Collective.
• Alternatively your local wildlife trust or organic farm may be able to use it as a mulch.
(Re)Use It
• Reuse any furnishings that you no longer need, sell or donate for a second life.
• Reuse any furnishings that you no longer need, sell or donate for a second life.
Be Conscious of Card and Paper
Go Print Free • You don’ t need a printed price list. It's much easier to change your prices if your list is digital only. People can get a PDF version, read it on your website or app, or you can Airdrop it to their device.
...And Phase Out the Rest
• Question what else you need: gift vouchers, loyalty cards, appointment cards – do you really need them to be physical, or can they be done better and cheaper digitally? If you have stocks of the above then use them up, but don't reprint.
• Choose recycled and/or FSC-certified paper for your own printer.
• Don’t print if you don’t really need to.
• Avoid lamination, coating and binding, as these reduce the recyclability of the paper.
...Including Loo Paper!
• Change your loo paper to a recyclable/recycled or bamboo alternative, made by a manufacturer who gives back, e.g. Who Gives a Crap, who use 50% of profits to install toilets in developing countries. They offer a choice of 100% bamboo toilet paper or 100% recycled toilet paper. Others to try for biodegradable, bamboo loo paper are Cheeky Panda and Naked Sprout
Ethical Refreshments
• Change to Fairtrade and sustainable tea, coffee and cold drinks.
• Offer vegan alternatives to milk, but be mindful that not all of them are sustainable. For example, almond milk requires substantially more water during the growing and production stages than soy, rice, hemp, coconut or oat milk. It requires 100 times the amount of water as pea milk, and its production generates more CO2.
• Offer vegan alternatives to milk, but be mindful that not all of them are sustainable. For example, almond milk requires substantially more water during the growing and production stages than soy, rice, hemp, coconut or oat milk. It requires 100 times the amount of water as pea milk, and its production generates more CO2.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning
• Change to greener cleaning products. Try Ethical Superstore and Sustainably Lazy for lots of choices. In the supermarket, your best bet is usually Ecover and the disinfection range, Disicide, is certified vegan.
• Use white vinegar and baking soda as alternative cleaners. Clean the loo with citric acid mixed with water. Check out Wellness Mama for more options and how tos.
• If you use towels, wash them with eco-friendly washing products such as Ecozone ecoballs, Ecover or EcoVibe.
• If you use towels, wash them with eco-friendly washing products such as Ecozone ecoballs, Ecover or EcoVibe.
• If you are washing towels or cloths (or clothes) then use a laundry bag or ball to collect the micro-plastics that are shed from them in the wash.
• Try Guppyfriend or Coraball.
Tech Choices
Make it Last
• Keep your old device or phone a little longer. Do you really need to buy a new mobile phone, tablet or whatever? They include rare earth metals which are mine dangerously and unethically. Like most things, by keeping them longer you reduce the CO2 emissions involved in the manufacturing process
Un-Google
• Use an eco-friendly search engine like Ecosia, which invests its profits in tree planting.
Email Energy Management
• Send fewer emails, copy in less people, review all your subscriptions and delete any defunct personal email addresses you still have.
• Reduce the size of attachments or replace with a hyperlink. Back up only what’s essential.
• Back up only what’s essential.
Fresh Air is Fabulous
Go Live
• Have potted plants instead of cut flowers to help oxygenate the air and keep it fresh.
• Buy them from from an independent nursery, where they can actually tell you something about their origins – you guessed it, pot plants can be as unsustainable as cut flowers.
Detox
• Change what is likely to be a toxic air freshener in a spray can to a lovely, pleasant, green alternative like essential oil sprays or electric diffusers. • Aerosol cans contain VOCs, a type of toxic air pollution which is particularly nasty indoors.
• Don’ t use candles – you might set light to someone or something. This has happened before in salons! If you must, check they are made from environmentally-friendly products, e.g. soy, rather than paraffin wax. Better for our health too.
Shopping
Shop Locally
• Shop locally to support local businesses, like yours.
• Shop at the Co-op which aims to be carbon neutral by 2025.
• Reduce online shopping as much as possible. Online shopping uses so much more useless and dangerous plastic, paper and cardboard packaging than is needed. Not to mention causing massive increases in delivery miles by diesel vans and planes.
Food Tips
Food Tips
• If you offer drinks or snacks, remember to cater for all diets, including gluten-free, vegan etc.
• Ditch those tiny biscuits individually wrapped in plastic and pair up with a local bakery or cafe to provide something like tasty squares of shortbread.
Do Your Bit
Donate
• Give one day’s profit to a charity focused on saving the planet or helping those in developing countries. Promote this as a salon charity day; it will attract new clients.
• Keep an authorised charity collecting tin at reception for the Hair and Beauty Charity.
• Donate suitable hair to the Little Princess Trust which makes wigs for children with medical hair loss.
• Join The Race to Zero and go public with your plans to reduce your CO2 emissions!
Here are the next steps to making your salon more sustainable. These are not difficult things to do, but may require a bit more effort and cost more – but they should also save you money in the long run.
Reduce Your Energy Use & Carbon Footprint
Choose Green Energy
• Change your energy supplier to a green energy company; this will reduce your CO2 emissions considerably. There are several to choose from and their prices are reasonably competitive. Spend a few minutes on a price comparison website to see what works best for you. Green suppliers include Ecotricity, Good Energy, Green Energy UK and Octopus. Each supplies 100% green electricity from renewable sources, with a proportion of their gas from green sources as well. Green Energy UK offers 100% green gas.
Wash and Dry
• Buy a high-efficiency washing machine to save energy and money.
• Ditch your tumble dryer. Incredibly inefficient and planet unfriendly! Recycle it! Movement
• Install movement-sensitive PIR sensors to control the lighting in rooms that are not always in use, e.g. the loo, possibly the staff room and colour area.
Go with the Flow
• Install low-flow taps to reduce water flow.
• Install taps with timer controls, or get infra red sensor taps which automatically turn on the water only when being held and stop the flow when not in use.
• Get water saving shower heads, e.g. EcoHeads, which make a big difference and are especially good if you have low flow across several taps. The Pro Eco Universal Shower Head may also be worth considering.
• Install low-flow loos. These all provide great savings on water bills, too.
Reduce Waste - Zap It
Reduce Waste - Zap It
• Instead of recording your colour waste yourselves, use an app. These aim to eliminate colour waste by helping you mix the optimum amount of colour each time. Try Smartmix by Precision Colour Ltd.
Recycle Metals
Recycle Metals
• Reduce waste by getting your team to cut foils to size depending on hair length. See if you can get your used foils recycled. Ask your local council or try Green Salon Collective.
• If you can’t recycle foils, then change to Paper Not Foil. Plastic meche and foam wraps are reusable but not bio degradable, nor easily recycled. Green Salon Collective argues that aluminium foils are more sustainable than the mineral-based Paper Not Foil. However, the pros and cons are complicated, especially when you take into account the impact of bauxite (aluminium’s raw material) mining on biodiversity and indigenous people’s human rights. Aluminium is 100% recyclable and most of the world’s aluminium is recycled – so why is it still mined?
• Do more balayage. Train your team to be experts at free hand work so you won’t need so many foils or wraps.
Colour Collection • Get your used colour tubes recycled, along with the used foils. Ask your local council or try Green Salon Collective. • Remember, the less waste you produce the lower your waste management costs will be!
Colour Collection • Get your used colour tubes recycled, along with the used foils. Ask your local council or try Green Salon Collective. • Remember, the less waste you produce the lower your waste management costs will be!
Tech Choices
Green Comms
• Change your broadband and telephone to carbon neutral, if it's available in your area. Try Cerberus Net Zero Broadband, although you should note that this is based on offsetting, rather than using actual green energy. Another option is Green ISP.
• For sustainable mobile phone providers try Honest Mobile, Phone Co-op or Ecotalk. Ecotalk + RSPB invest 100% of profits in to nature, paying for new nature reserves while powering all calls, texts and data with green energy from Ecotricity.
• If you must buy a new phone, buy a refurbished one which will also save you money. Lots to choose from, but if you are into DIY check out IFixIt
• If you really need a new, new one, a 2021 survey concluded that the most sustainable and ethical smartphones are made by Fairphone and Teracube. A Greenpeace survey in 2017 concluded that, of the major manufacturers, Apple led the field in environmental performance.
• Change your website hosting provider to one that runs on clean energy There is a list of green providers at The Green Web Foundation.
• Digital tech is a small fraction of your salon’s CO2 emissions compared with hot water, but every little counts.
Get Tooled Up
• Leaf Scissors claim to be the first sustainable scissors. They use 100% recyclable packaging and for each pair of scissors they sell, they plant at least 10 trees. These scissors are made from high quality Japanese steel. The Japanese steel industry aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 – about 20 years too late! We haven’t been able to identify any other brand with a similar commitment to Leaf, but do let us know if you know of any.
• Leaf also sell 100% biodegradable combs made from PLA (non petroleum plastic) and wheat straw, with four different types available: a colouring comb, detangling comb, tail comb and cutting comb.
• Wholesalers like Hairtools and SalonsDirect offer a variety of sustainable tools, including brushes made from plant starch, straw and recycled wood, and bamboo combs.
• Denman's Iconic brushes are 100% recyclable, as is the packaging. They are researching how to manufacture brushes and combs from used PPE, including masks; an example of the circular economy.
• Parlux, according to their website, manufacture electrical goods (hairdryers etc) with "low-environmental impact". For example, they say the Parlux 3800 Ecofriendly is made of of highly-recyclable materials, operates with low-noise and is fast-drying to save energy.
Towels to Try
• Change to compostable and biodegradable towels and minimise the use of cotton towels. This will save water and reduce your energy costs and CO2 emissions because you won’t wash and dry them. It will help reduce damaging industrial farming, excessive water use and human rights abuses in the places where cotton is grown. You may even be able to eliminate cotton towels altogether.
• Biodegradable towels can be composted, or even go to landfill, with no harm done. Having an individual towel for each client means improved hygiene too! We use Easydry and another leading brand is Scrummi. Others are available, but it is not always clear from their websites if the wood based material they use is sustainably and ethically sourced.
• We also use Easydry compostable gowns, and they also do disposable shoulder capes.
• Handy tip: Don’t use cotton wool. Cut up used but clean biodegradable towels instead.
• If you must use cotton towels, choose organic cotton towels and air dry rather than tumble dry them after washing.
• Tumble dryers are very wasteful of energy.
• Microfibre towels are made from plastic and are not recyclable. On top of that, every time you wash a microfibre towel or cloth, you’re introducing micro plastics into the water, and subsequently the rivers and oceans.
• In the loo, ditch paper or cotton hand towels in favour of an electric hand dryer which will be more energy efficient.
On Yer Bike
• This government scheme offers employees the opportunity to save up to 42% on the cost of bicycles and/or safety equipment. This helps to reduce pollution, promotes healthier lifestyles and makes cycling to work more cost-effective, by offering tax savings on the purchase of bikes and cycling equipment. The scheme works through the payroll. A member of our team now has an awesome lightweight bike through this scheme which he uses every day.
• Don't forget to make sure there is safe place for people to store their bikes at work.
Money Matters
Money Matters
• Change your business bank account to a more sustainable and ethical one. Triodos is widely recognised as the most ethical and sustainable bank, but at time of writing there was a waiting list for new business accounts – we know because we are on it, but you should check! Also more sustainable than most are Starling and The Co-operative Bank.
• If you or your business has savings, then consider investing in ethical and sustainable funds. There is an argument that doing this is the single most important action you can take to help save the planet.
• You are not supposed to give your employees financial advice, but you can make sure they are aware this option exists in their pension scheme.
Awareness is everything
Awareness is everything
• Educate your team. Work with them to tackle all the possibilities, including travel to work, meals, personal use of plastic, fast fashion, etc.
• Aerial and Carbon Donut are just two of the several apps available to help you live a more sustainable life. Why not share with your team?
• Delegate action. Ask your team to choose a salon eco-champion to lead, with active support from you or the salon manager.
• Set targets, sign pledges and display them in the salon.
• Get them to complete the Sustainable Stylist Certificate designed by The University of Southampton Business School. Once you have the majority of your stylists certified, you can self-certify as a Sustainable Salon.
• Organise a team-building session working on a local nature reserve, or planting trees with the local wildlife trust or The Conservation Volunteers. Great for the environment, well being and health – as well as fun.
• Discuss offsetting your team’s personal carbon footprints. Maybe you could go 50/50 with the cost? Consider Ecologi or Mossy Earth. Others are available! • Educate your clients. As a hairdresser you talk to many people, so you are in a great position to promote less energy-intensive products and practices and other sustainable actions, both in the salon and at home.
• Place information fliers and eco- tip stickers at styling positions (recycled materials only!) and encourage stylists to discuss sustainability topics.
• Post frequently about your stance on social media and feature your changes on your website.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship
• Support an organisation working to protect the nature and biodiversity we all depend on. Consider your local wildlife trust, the RSPB or Rewilding Britain. We are personally involved in an amazing rewilding project in Portugal, which also needs funds.
Interrogations
Interrogations
• Question your suppliers on all aspects of their sustainable and ethical practices. You’ll need to find out who to contact. Unfortunately, automatic emails from company websites are not always answered, so write to the CEO or chair.
Do something amazing today; make some giant steps to save the planet. These are big changes to how you run your salon and need investment in both time and money, but they will make a real impact and save you money in the long run. This is the final part of the Salon RE:Source Sustainable Salon Toolkit – let us know how you get on!
Move to a sustainable and ethical hairdressing product supplier
There are an increasing number of well known hairdressing product brands which are now offering safe, ethically and sustainably-produced products and packaging, free of harsh chemicals and including organic, vegan and cruelty-free products. This change needs careful consideration, so take your time to research and make the right decision for you. It should not cost you financially, because your new supplier should exchange your old stock for new at cost. There are many issues to consider before choosing the manufacturer and/or wholesaler which best matches your values. For example: What are their sustainable and ethical business practices? Watch out for green washing and for vague, bogus and exaggerated claims; for example regarding sourcing of palm oil, paper and card, and testing on animals. Do they still use harsh chemicals or substitute ingredients which are just as bad? For example, for colour to work you do need either PPD or PTD. Replacing PPD with PTD doesn’t make that much difference, but is sometimes represented as a big positive. Saying 'PPD free' can mean, 'contains PTD'! Having said that, you can choose from several well-known colour manufacturers whose products are largely organic. There is debate about which container materials are most sustainable – advanced plastics, reclaimed plastics, glass, aluminium, stainless steel, etc. Do they use post consumer recycled plastic? 100% post consumer recycled plastic is possible, but most manufactures aren’t using this yet. Is glass greener than the latest sustainable plastic? This is a changing area of technology with no totally clear best options. But the consensus seems to be to choose from glass, aluminium or stainless steel where possible.
• To buy products which are free of plastic, look for the Plastic Free Certification. Choose suppliers and wholesalers whose packaging is 100% recycled card and paper.
• They should use paper sticky tape, not plastic tape, which can’t be recycled. Steer completely clear of manufacturers who use non-recycled plastic, or paper and card harvested from virgin or unsustainable forests.
• If they don’t claim to be ethical and sustainable, suspect the worst! Check the accreditations companies use regarding sourcing of forest products (timber, paper, card), palm oil and other products. Some, unfortunately, are ‘green washing’. FSC and PEFC (for forest products) and RSPO (for palm oil) are very well- respected and Orangutan Alliance Certification also identifies products that contain no palm oil.
• Do they offer a refill service for your clients which will save plastic, paper and card packaging?
• Select a product manufacturer which does not test its products on animals. These days most don’t, or claim not to. Look for the Leaping Bunny logo or check on the PETA website.
Go Vegan
To make your salon vegan is a major under taking, because as well as being sustainable you would need to use no products that contain animal derivatives or that have been tested on animals across everything from shampoos to furniture to refreshments. Another option is to cater to vegans, giving your clients a choice. Stock vegan hair products. Several well known companies say the majority of their products are vegan and there are a few who are entirely vegan. Consider the limitations (if any) of their colour products. If in doubt, check for The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark.
Refit Your Salon
This is a great opportunity to make a step change in your salon’s environmental and ethical performance. If you can afford it, some of the following do of course make great sense at any time.
• Work with a designer and shop fitter with experience of sustainable salon design.
• Wherever you can, retain existing features and fittings in order to reduce landfill and the CO2 emissions emitted in the process of manufacturing new items.
• Use certified, recycled, non-toxic building materials. Use phosphate-free and low-VOC paints (these contain less “volatile organic compounds” than traditional paint).
• Wood should be FSC or PEFC-certified.
• Use sustainable furniture and fittings which can be new or upcycled. Pallets, cable drums, reclaimed timber, scaffolding boards, distressed furniture, industrial metal... the options are endless if you get creative.
• Look out for new carbon-zero furniture made with recycled materials. Try Maletti and other furniture makers.
• Install a fitted ventilation or extractor venting system for better air quality for everyone, including anyone with asthma or breathing difficulties.
• Install grey water/heat transfer plumbing to save energy.
• Install insulation; it's cheaper than retrofitting it later. Without insulation, up to 60% of heat is lost through walls, windows and roofs!
• For a new floor, consider marmoleum; a type of linoleum which is one of the most sustainable materials of any kind.
• Generate your own renewable energy with solar panels, air source heat pump or even geothermal (if you have quite a lot of land). A heat pump is an electrically-powered device that absorbs heat from the air, ground or water around a building. They are more efficient than gas boilers. In 2020, estimates had energy prices at 11-15p per kWh, whereas the cost of producing your own was around 5p per kWh depending on the technology you use. With energy prices increasing, the saving is likely to be greater.
• Another alternative is the BlueGen ceramic fuel cell. This generates electricity from the mains gas supply at a very high-efficiency rate of around 80%. The size of a fridge, it is ideal for salons. We have one at our salon and it has allowed us to reduce both energy costs and CO2 emissions by around half. It also generates a cylinder’s worth of hot water each day as a free bi-product. • Install skylights for more natural light. Great for client hair colour, and relaxing too.
• Install LED lighting for all your external displays, with a daylight sensor and override timer to trigger the display. LEDs are also great for all your internal lighting.
• Install an electric charge point for e-bikes, e-scooters and even electric cars! There is a £350 grant per socket available at Pod Point.
Get Help, Get Accredited
For Help
• Southampton University Business School’s website is a fantastic source of information for salon owners and hairdressers wanting to become more sustainable. Their Eco Hair and Beauty Salon and Stylist Certificates are excellent tools for the whole team, too.
• Green Salon Collective is a UK and Ireland recycling service for hair, used colour tubes and foils, plastic, paper, card, colour, and bleach. Check out the education page for webinars, videos and lots of helpful information.
• Karine Jackson is an award-winning salon owner, former President of The Fellowship of British Hairdressing, an expert on sustainable salons, and a consultant. Contact her on 07957 655434 or by email on karine@karinejackson.co.uk.
• The British Beauty Council's Sustainable Beauty Coalition have published two must- reads: The Planet Positive Beauty Guide, which explains the claims and certifications used across the British beauty industry; and Courage to Change, an inspirational call to action for both the public and the beauty industry to act to save the planet.
• Zero Carbon Business is an excellent guide to becoming a net zero business, which goes into more detail than we have space for here.
• Mike Berners-Lee (whose brother Tim invented the internet!) has written two extraordinary books which you must read. There Is No Planet B – a rallying cry and toolkit for saving the planet – and How Bad Are Bananas? which lists the carbon footprint of everything... or nearly everything, because he omits hair! Both are entertaining reads and may change your life!
For Accreditation
• Southampton University Business School’s website offers both a Sustainable Stylist and Sustainable Salon Certificate.
• Good Salon Guide Eco Salon Rating
• Green Salon Collective Accreditation has versions for both salons and freelancers.
• The Davines Sustainable Salon Program is open to all salons.
• Carbon Footprint Limited Carbon Neutral Certification Carbon Trust Carbon Neutral
• Certification One Planet Living is a sustainability framework for organisations including businesses.
• B-Corp provides accreditation for businesses that want to balance purpose and profit, and consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. B-Corp also offer the B Impact assessment, a free tool to help companies assess their impact on their workers, community, customers and the environment.
Some Killer Stats and Facts for Salons on a Mission to Become More Sustainable
Hairdressing salons and barber shops use huge amounts of energy, water, plastic and chemicals, and we produce large amounts of waste, too. UK salons on their own produce more carbon emissions than many small countries! (www.worldometers.info) On the plus side, it means we have the potential to have a big, positive impact if we do things differently. Here are some statistics to help you make decisions as you progress in your sustainability journey.
• In the UK, 5 million tonnes of plastic is consumed each year, of which 75% becomes waste. (https://www.statista.com/topics/4918/plastic-waste-in-the- united-kingdom-uk/). Much of this ends up in the ocean.
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, aka the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre (a large system of circulating ocean currents) made up of marine debris particles. One estimate is that it currently covers an area of 15 million sq. kilometres, and it is growing. There are several others, including one in the North Atlantic.
• The standard water tap flow is 15 litres/minute, but a low flow tap is 3 litres/minute.
• A study by Southampton University Business School showed that a small four-seater salon that adopted their eco hair and beauty suggestions would save 24,150 kWh energy, 286,000 litres of water and more than £5,300 per year
• At Anne Veck Oxford, we have cut our carbon emissions and energy costs in half, saving us £3,000 each year since 2012
• Extending a phone’s lifespan from one to four years can decrease its environmental impact by 40%.
• If the internet was a country, it would be the 6th most polluting nation in the world. One of the consequences of Covid-19 has been a huge increase in single use plastics for PPE and in paper and card waste from online shopping. • Some supermarkets and cosmetics (including haircare) brands have partnered with circular economy organisation, Loop, to ensure they cut down drastically on plastic waste and single use packaging.
• Vast areas of rainforest continue to be cleared and burnt to produce palm oil and soya (as well as timber and cattle). This releases carbon dioxide, destroys biodiversity and leads to indigenous people being evicted from their land, and even murdered. • Many tropical forests, including the Amazon, are now at a "tipping point", where they are emitting more CO2 than they are absorbing. • Many hair and beauty brands have committed to ensuring their products are free of “dirty” palm oil. But others haven’t, or are not living up to their promises. • Soya is great when grown for direct human consumption but disastrous when grown to make animal feed because about 10x as much land is required to produce the same amount of food (meat, chicken, etc).
• 81% of people prefer to buy from sustainable sellers. (https://www.recyclinglives.com) 71% of 18-30 year olds want brands to be environmentally friendly and ethical. (https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/young-consumers-key- sustainable-brands)
• 52% of hair & beauty consumers look for products with natural ingredients.(L’Oreal Sustainable Agenda 2019)
• Covid has brought about a sea change in fashion and beauty. It's our chance to change how we live! Wouldn’t it be amazing if hairdressers were part of the solution rather than part of the problem?
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Acknowledgements
We couldn’t have compiled this tool kit without advice, inspiration and information from a wide range of people and organisations. In particular the following have been important (even if they weren’t aware of it!). Any errors are of course entirely our responsibility.
Anne Veck is an ambassador for Green Salon Collective and Easydry and Hairdressing Ambassador for The National Hair & Beauty Federation. She is a member of the British Beauty Council’s Hairdressing Committee and works with Davines and Avlon as an educator and champion for sustainable salons. Keith Mellen is a member of the British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition Advisory Board and a member of the UK Business and Biodiversity Steering Group. Anne Veck Limited is a founder supporter of Get Nature Positive and a signatory to the Race to Zero.
We couldn’t have compiled this tool kit without advice, inspiration and information from a wide range of people and organisations. In particular the following have been important (even if they weren’t aware of it!). Any errors are of course entirely our responsibility.
- Louise Wood, Jodie Watts, Rachael Gibson, LWPR
- Professor Denise Baden, Southampton Business School, University of Southampton
- Anne Butterly and Angela Byrne, Easydry
- Karine Jackson, Karine Jackson Sustainable Salon Ilana Brand
- Ilana’s Hair Gallery, Swakopmund, Namibia
- Gina Conway, Gina Conway Salons
- Tabitha James Kraan, Tabitha James Kraan Organic Hair Care
- Christine Laing , Fife College Lorna Milton
- Elan Hair Design, Aberdeen
- Charlie Hearn, Campbell Hearn Design
- Fry Taylor, Green Salon Collective
- Creative HEAD magazine
- British Beauty Council
- Sustainability Coalition Davines
Anne Veck is an ambassador for Green Salon Collective and Easydry and Hairdressing Ambassador for The National Hair & Beauty Federation. She is a member of the British Beauty Council’s Hairdressing Committee and works with Davines and Avlon as an educator and champion for sustainable salons. Keith Mellen is a member of the British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition Advisory Board and a member of the UK Business and Biodiversity Steering Group. Anne Veck Limited is a founder supporter of Get Nature Positive and a signatory to the Race to Zero.