Sustainable Salons

A Cut Above The Rest

Weird and Wonderful Careers to Enhance Your Cultural Knowledge

Written by Sophie Barclay Interviewed by Tanya Finnie

Long before ‘overconsumption’ and ‘sustainability were buzzwords Paul Frasca and Ewellna Soroko , were questioning whether it was possible to combat the exorbitant waste created by salons. After five years of research, they had the answer and in 2015, Sustainable Salons (SS) was born.

Paul kindly conducted an interview with Cultural Times and answered some of our questions about SS and its impact on the sustainability movement.

1. Metals

Along with hair, metal makes up 50% of salon wastage. Aluminium is one of the worst materials on the planet to produce yet it is the most sustainable to keep—it is infinitely recyclable. All our salons use recycled foils.

In culture we often refer to perception. Paul nailed this with his quote describing the love-hate relationship we have with hair.

Hair. On our head we love it, on our food we hate it.

What is the story behind Sustainable Salons?

Around eight years ago, Ewelina and I began conducting research about salon waste and materials. We travelled around Australia, collecting material from 160 salons and brought it back to my father’s garage to get a better understanding of the ways it could be used. We quickly realised that around 95% of salon waste could be repurposed and diverted to solving a problem.

Today, Sustainable Salons is the largest comprehensive resource recovery program dedicated to recycling, reusing and repurposing salon waste. The program services more than 800 salons in the hairdressing, beauty, barbering and pet-grooming sectors.

We believe our program has been so successful because we have focused on a specific niche of the market and it allowed us to remain focused on solving the root problems of the industry.

What materials do you recycle and how are they repurposed?

There are several aspects to the resource recovery system—we collect paper, plastics, hair, chemicals, metals, copper and more.

2. Chemicals

Chemical waste, particularly hydrogen peroxide, is incredibly toxic. It is ironic that the EPA could fine an individual $100,000 if they threw peroxide into the gutter but hairdressers can tip it down the drain and contaminate our oceans. SS was the first company to provide a chemical recycling service, with chemicals collected in small buckets and turned back into clean water for manufacturing and building.

3. Plastics

Above: Worker holding collected metals. Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

We are really focused on trying to solve the plastic problem. We work with local recyclers and manufacturers to create products such as outdoor furniture, product packaging and in some areas, even heavy-duty plastic sheeting that goes underground to protect the internet. However, we are always looking for other exciting products. We are launching a glasses range in October made from recycled shampoo bottles. Our customers are looking for fun, quirky items and they love consumables made from their own waste. They sell out overnight.

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Sustainable Salons

4. Hair

We recycle hair in two different ways. The SS is the largest collector and donor of ponytails in the Southern Hemisphere, sending them to various charitable organisations and wig-makers, such as the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation. When we first got in touch, they said they needed 4000 ponytails a year but they could only source around 1000, meaning people were placed on a waiting list for 3 to 6 months. Now, we have thousands of customers ringing up salons on our programs, wanting their hair cuttings to be donated to these organisations. The second use is through our Hair Boom Project.

Above: Co- founder Ewelina Soroko Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

What are the benefits for salons involved in thisinitiative?

SS is a social enterprise and we are founded on three key principles; people, planet, profit. We wanted to create a model that both rewarded salons for being part of the program but also redirected profits back into local communities and charitable organisations.

Above: Worker holding hair booms. Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

Can you go into some more detail about Hair Boom Project?

Hair booms can be used to clean up oil spills. We heard about this twenty years ago in America but during the BP oil spill, it got a lot of bad press. We went straight to the universities, bought 30 hair booms and began funding research for testing.

Current research shows that the capacity for hair as an oil sorbent is higher than any other natural sorbent boom and holds up to 8 times its weight. It is also organic and completely breaks down in the ocean. We have repurposed 18,900 kilograms of hair to date and we hope to be the number one manufactured, commercially available product used for spills at sea and on land.

We want people to be inspired to take care of the planet and become educated on how to be better within society. If salons want to join us, we are going to encourage you to be part of the community. We organise events where the homeless or their pets can have their hair cut, we bus in around 300 people for our New South Wales event.

All our collected commodity waste is recycled and sold for profit, which the Sustainable Salons then donates to the community via OzHarvest in Australia and Kiwi Harvest in New Zealand. For every $1 donated by Sustainable Salons, two meals are provided to the most vulnerable in our communities.

However, we also make it beneficial for businesses to join our programs. We provide a whole range of marketing tools that can be used within the salon to build awareness with clients. Salons have access to all of the SS messaging, information, design collateral and branding. This immediately improves the salon’s environmental credential and helps them attract new clientele.

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Sustainable Salons

Below: Co- founder and CEO Paul Frasca. Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

How do you go about educating the market about a product they don’t know they need? How do you balance education with the profit side of the business?

Education was built into our original business plan; we knew that we were going to have to invest time and resources. We decided that the best way to educate kids about sustainability was if we wrote the curriculum ourselves. Schools already were trying to develop sustainability units, so we got in contact with them and said we would be happy to put it together. Schools love it because it was free and kids love it because we made it fun and relevant.

Another important aspect was story telling. We create readable, easily consumable content. We made sure that the content was relevant to the people reading it and that it connects with consumers.

As a call to action for our readers, what is it you would like them to do?

Right now, we cover all major cities in Australia and have begun expanding to New Zealand. We are about to open our Christchurch and Wellington recycling depos. If you are an Australian or New Zealand resident, get your hairdresser in contact with us via our website and someone will call you.

It is important to remember we are a service, not a product. We can’t come to places where we don’t have the infrastructure. However, you can easily start your own service or program. Many people around the world are starting to figure out similar models to create their own movement and we think that’s great.

Businesses like this are truly made out of passion. You aren’t thinking of money, you are problem solving. And more and more, we are seeing that consumers want sustainable options as well.

THE SUSTAINABLE SALONS FOOTPRINT

Just by saving valuable materials from landfill, the Sustainable Salons network of hairdressing, beauty and pet- grooming salons, and dermal and cosmetic clinics acrossAustralia and New Zealand helps feed the hungry, protect the planet and grow local communities. Here' s what we achieved on our journey to zero waste!

89,000kg of plastic kept in circulation and out of landfill 106, 600kg of paper recycled 125, 000kg of metals diverted from landfill 16, 400 litres of excess chemicals recycled back into water18,900kg of hair collected for the Hair Boom project that could soak up 63,300L of oil in acoastline spill43,700 ponytails collected that could make 2185 wigs for cancer and alopecia 95, 200 meals provided for the homeless via OzHarvestRecycled 1300 kg of e-waste23, 600 wheelie bins of material saved from landfill

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