THE WAR ON WASTE BEING WAGED WITH SALON OWNERS

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Posted July 30, 2018

The war on waste has truly come to salons, with more and more salon owners taking some form of action to reduce waste within their hair or beauty salon. If you’ve been stuck behind the basin or in the treatment room and haven’t heard of The War of Waste, it was a program created by the ABC that has sparked a movement. Customers in Australia are now more aware than ever of their personal contributions to waste and recycling and understand that the buck stops with them – so what does that mean for salon owners?

 

Hair and beauty salons are a huge producer of all kinds of waste. From foil for highlights to cotton pads and chemicals in spa, many of the items that salons and spa’s are throwing away can, in fact, be recycled or repurposed if sorted and delivered in the right way. Fortunately, there are a number of suppliers within the hair and beauty space that provide salon owners with solutions to deal with their waste, such as HABA Alliance Partner Waste Free Systems. The question that is often raised though is what these changes will mean for salon owners and their businesses.

 

Most salon waste solution providers allocate different bins to a salon to sort a variety of waste categories, including foil, aerosols, hair, chemical waste and plastics. These waste items are then either recycled in the right channels, properly disposed of or repurposed into green solutions for our community – for instance, leftover hair is turned into booms for use during floods.

 

A HABA member recently reported to us that since implementing a salon waste system they are now recycling up to 95% of waste within their salon, which two years ago would have simply gone to landfill. This is a huge shift in attitude that has made a great impact in salon and in their local community.

 

Some salon owners have implemented a “green fee” to accommodate the changes that are occurring in salon. One HABA Member reported that they had added a $2 fee to every service to accommodate the additional cost of these waste services. The salon has seen very minimal backlash from this change, and by promoting that they were part of a salon waste program they were able to get additional interest from customers in the way that the salon was run, and in their local communities. By doing something that is good for your salon and good for your customers, there are absolutely rewards to be received.

 

In short, salon owners must implement the following to fight the war on waste –

• Create a dedicated area for sorting bins within your salon
• Get your staff on board and encourage them to utilise these systems being implemented
• Promote the work that you are doing and share the journey with your customers – let them be part of the success with you
• A minimal increase to the price of services is completely acceptable for these kinds of systematic changes, but they must be communicated to customers clearly
• Tie the new systems to a sense of community and “doing our bit” as this creates an emotional response, both in your team and in your customers

 

If you’re keen to fight your own war on waste in your salon, simply speak to the team from Waste Free Systems who will help you get your salon on the waste-free bandwagon!

 

If you have a great story coming out of YOUR salon and you’re a HABA Member we would love to hear from you! We want to tell everyone we can about the successes our salons are having – so please share your story by emailing info@askhaba.com.au