How Toxic is Your Hair Salon?

EverSoPopular

10 years ago

photo of woman's hands as she straightens hair Alarmingly, the majority of salon waste such as hair color and foils, ends up down the drain and into our water supply or in the trash and headed to a landfill. George the salon Chicago is combating the toxic effects of beauty services by starting a new program that recycles & reuses 95% of their total waste.

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While some industries have access to paid recycling for paper and plastic, the bulk of salon waste – hair, metals, excess chemicals, and much more – has always been destined for the trash bin and sink.

In an effort to change this alarming fact and significantly reduce their environmental impact, George the salon Chicago is proud to begin a new comprehensive recycling / reuse program, ensuring 95% of their waste is reprocessed. This program founded by Green Circle Salons will redirect daily waste like hair, foils, color tubes, paper, plastics, and liquid chemicals out of our water streams and landfills, creating environmental accountability in the beauty industry. Now with each salon visit, clients of George the salon will contribute to local and international community development, as well as environmental research and innovation for a healthier planet.

Scary Salon Waste Facts:

Did you know hair when placed in garbage bags will mummify, continue to fill our landfill, and give off methane gas?

George the salon will now be diverting all hair out of landfills and into other more sustainable projects. Green Circle Salons, in connection with various partners, is looking at ways that hair can play an important role in a number of commercial applications. It’s exciting to know that hair can be used on our oceans to help in oil spill cleanup and recovery projects.

Did you know that currently all aluminum foils and color tubes are not being recycled and are sent to landfill?

Recycling aluminum uses roughly 5% of the energy required to create virgin aluminum from bauxite. 95% of all aluminum can be recycled over and over again, including the foils and color tubes that are used in salons across North America. Now properly recycled, this will help to reduce the need for more landfill space, reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources, and decrease the amount of toxins going into our landfill sites.

Did you know that all excess chemicals including color, perm solutions and ammonia get rinsed down the sink into our water stream?

This is the ugly truth of the industry. Our solution will be to send all excess color waste to a hazardous waste facility where they will be incinerated to produce clean energy!