Green Circle Salons combats the beasts of beauty
- The Garbage Lady
- Jan 13
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 16
Image by Arturs Budkevics from Pixabay
Up until quite recently, I never thought about garbage during my salon visits. I'll admit to being fully self-absorbed, thinking only about the hair on my head, mildly anxious about the post-appointment results. I certainly wasn't thinking about hair clippings, foils, leftover hair color, aerosol cans, color tubes, and all the other beasts of beauty. Since my last appointment I've learned that the beauty industry produces 877 pounds of waste every minute, most of it ending up in landfills where much of it creates greenhouse gases.
To combat beauty waste and climate change, Green Circle Salons offers a program that helps salons offset their emissions and recover up to 95% of their beauty waste. Salons that join the program collect their waste and then ship it to Green Circle Salons, who works with over 40 vetted partners to ensure that the waste is responsibly recycled, composted, or converted to clean energy. Hair clippings are turned into mats and booms to clean up oil spills, foils are melted down into sheets and bars and used to make new products like car parts and bicycles, and excess hair color is either converted into clean energy or separated into water and oil that is then returned to the water system and blended into fuel. See the Green Circles Salons website for details on how beauty waste is recycled and repurposed.
Since its start in 2009, the program has kept over 10 million pounds of beauty waste out of landfills. Garbage Hero! Green Circle Salons backs their program with a Green Guarantee to ensure that all aspects of the waste journey are sustainably managed, and the company is backed by the following certifications:
B Corp Certified to acknowledge the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility
Zero Waste to Landfill Certified through Carbon Trust
1% for the Planet Certified to support people and the environment
It was pure happenstance that my last haircut was at a salon that had joined the Green Circle Salons movement. For your next salon visit, consider booking with a salon that's also part of the movement. Or, if you're loyal to a salon hasn't joined, mention the program to them in hopes that they will.
Comments