Wombourne salon owner finds stylish way to cut back on waste

She joined the Green Salon Collective (GSC), an initiative that reduces salon waste through recycling and education programmes.

Now everything from hairspray cans and colour tubes to disposable towels and even hair is kept out of landfill.

“Salons in general produce the largest amount of waste on the high street,” explains Tammy, owner of Fierce Hairdressing in Wombourne.

After opening her first salon seven years ago, she started noticing how much rubbish was being generated each day.

“I saw from an owner’s point of view how much waste goes to landfill and this just didn’t sit well with me. When you work for someone else’s business, you don’t tend to notice so much and it’s someone else’s problem. But I was seeing how much rubbish was being taken out to the bin.”

Tammy was determined to find a solution and her research led her to The Green Salon Collective.

After moving to larger premises in October 2020, she wanted to ensure her business was doing its bit to help the environment.

And she became one of a growing number of hairdressers who have signed up to the eco-friendly scheme.

The GSC collects the items that would normally have been thrown away as general rubbish.

“We order a ‘returns’ box for the different categories and they collect it,” says Tammy, who has been a stylist for high profile fashion shows including Christian Lacroix and London Fashion Week

“I’m really committed to reducing our carbon footprint. Being part of the Green Salon Collective means we ethically dispose of our salon waste. None of our plastics, metals, PPE, hair or towels go to landfill.”

The salon fills three to four boxes a week and it’s estimated that each one can hold 350 clients’ rubbish.

Taking part in the scheme does come at an extra cost to the business and to begin with Tammy covered the additional expense herself.

“We never charged for PPE during the pandemic and when I first started working with the GSC, I tried absorbing as much of the cost personally as I could,” she explains.

Now, with the support of her customers, she charges £1 to cover the recycling costs.

“When we started talking about the green salon and how much we are helping the environment, they were soon on board. It has gained us new clients as I think the majority of people are starting to realise how bad the environment is getting and want to be part of the change,” explains Tammy, who has 20 years of hairdressing experience.

Customers can choose to opt out of paying the green fee, if they want to, but so far no one has done this.

All of the metal waste collected by The GSC, including contaminated foil, hairspray cans and colour tubes, is recycled.

Chemical waste such as colour and bleach, which is usually put down the sink, is incinerated and used to generate electricity for the UK National Grid.

Plastics such as product bottles, coffee cup lids and carrier bags are processed and turned into new products for the hair and beauty industry such as combs and colour bowls.

Disposable salon towels can be composted at specialised facilities.

“My favourite part is what they do with hair. They use it to create hair ‘booms’ to absorb oil from oil spills in the sea,” says Tammy.

​Essentially, a hair boom is hair cuttings of any length or colour tightly packed into cotton or nylon tubes. When placed in either water or on the shores of beaches, these booms will stop oil from spreading, saving wildlife and the natural landscape. ​Any hair that is long enough is also donated to make wigs.

The GSC donates 100 per cent of any money raised from recycling raw materials or new products made from collected waste to charities, which currently include FoodCycle, where volunteers turn surplus food into meals for people at risk of food poverty and isolation.

The scheme is also supporting Haircuts 4 The Homeless, where hairdressers donate their time and skill sets to give rough sleepers a haircut, and Mossy Earth, which restores wild ecosystems, supports wildlife and biodiversity and helps fight climate change.

GSC also works with Mossy Earth to plant a tree on each salon’s behalf for every Returns Box that they purchase.

Tammy’s salon is also taking other steps to improve its environmental footprint such as using eco-friendly products and tools.

“We also refill, with a discount, our clients’ shampoo and conditioners that they purchase from us to stop the plastic going in the bin.

“The Green Salon Collective is a really good thing to be a part of and I think more salons should get involved. The more that get involved, the cleaner the world will be,” says Tammy.

For more information about the GSC see greensaloncollective.com.