Hair All About It

Recycling at Chatters with Green Circle Salons

Posted on Apr 12, 2021

Lorie Knickle

We're bringing beauty back. 

Staying true to our vision of beauty means it's time to get real about our industry's ugly side. The waste that is generated each day by salons can be BIG. As in approximately 178 pounds per day kind of big (that's 1248 pounds per week!) That's a lot of waste to end up in landfills.

We knew there must be a better way to take out our trash. So in 2018 we began partnering with Green Circle Salons to help make our salons more sustainable. We are proud to say that 95% of our waste is now diverted from landfill and repurposed into something new.

And that's beautiful.

 

What is Green Circle Salons?

Green Circle Salons provides the world’s first (and North America’s only) sustainable salon solution to recover and repurpose beauty waste. They transform beauty waste into desirable commodities. Their program allows salons to repurpose and recover up to 95% of the resources that were once considered waste; materials such as hair, leftover hair colour, foils, colour tubes, aerosol cans, paper and plastics. We are so excited to partner with them and become eco-friendly hair salons!

To book your next sustainable hair appointment click here!

 

What Happens to the Waste?

sustainable eco friendly hair salon near me

Metals

Includes: Aluminum foils, colour tubes, food & beverage cans, tin containers, and K-Cup lids

Per day, the salon industry throws out 109,512 pounds of colour tubes and foils in North America. That waste takes a minimum of 80-100 years to start decomposing in landfills. Through Green Circle, these metals are melted down and re-purposed to be used as raw material for new items such as bicycles. 

Sustainable hair salon waste

 

sustainable eco friendly hair salon near me

Hair

Includes: All clippings and trimmings that are swept up after an appointment 

Instead of going into a landfill to rot and create harmful greenhouse gas, the hair we snip at Chatters gets a new life inside a hair boom. These booms are used to help clean up oil spills because it can absorb 12 times its weight in oil! Hair clippings can also be used to make bio-plastics.

sustainable hair salon waste

 

eco friendly sustainable hair salon

Hair Colour Byproduct

Includes: Excess hair colour, lightener, excess peroxide

North Americans pour 42,122 pounds of hair colour waste down the drain daily. By putting it through an incineration process, Green Circle Salons is able to separate the chemical from the water content. The water is purified, resulting in clean water, and the chemical is converted to clean energy that is infused into our power grids! 

eco friendly hair salon waste

 

safe clean hair salon covid safety

PPE

Includes: masks, gloves, single use towels, as well as items used to disinfect like wipes and paper towels

PPE waste is safely incinerated and used to create clean, renewable energy that powers our homes. The leftover ash can be used as filler in asphalt and various construction items, like brick.

Sustainable hair salon

 

We are so happy to have you join us on our eco-friendly journey. Together we are helping clean up oil spills, create clean energy and so much more – just by getting a hair cut or colour service! Keeping our planet healthy and beautiful is always in style.

For more about sustainable brands and practices at Chatters, click here. 

To book your next sustainable hair appointment click here!

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