It’s no secret that the hair industry is beyond wasteful. Every minute, more than 877 pounds of waste is generated by salons across North America. This translates to 421,000 pound of waste every single day!
Now, with the need to wear disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves and masks every day in salons to keep employees and stylists safe throughout the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, that amount of waste being generated has only continued to rise.
Thankfully, GLO, a specialty salon recycling company, has partnered with salon brands nationwide to offer a three month subscription of free PPE recycling to struggling salons through their Salon Green Dreams campaign. By providing free mailback services free of charge to green-minded salons that have been forced to introduce single-use items (masks, chair covers, etc.) into their business due to the pandemic, GLO will be able to achieve their goal of diverting PPE from landfills.
For those who don’t know, free curbside recycling is not able to accept most of the items used in salons including foils, bobby pins, hair clips, shampoo, conditioner, color bottles, and now PPE. But, through GLO’s specialty recycling services, 100 percent of salon waste from landfills is able to be divested, by giving these items a Second Life or powering homes through waste-to-energy combustion.
“It’s essential that stylists and clients are wearing PPE to stay safe during the pandemic, but a by-product of these necessary safety measures is a significant amount of extra waste coming out of salons. Without a specialty recycler, all of these items will go to a landfill by default,” said Jennifer Wolanik, Marketing Manager for GLO, in a press statement. “This past year has been incredibly difficult for salons and we wanted to create a program that enabled salons to avoid having to choose between safety and sustainability.”
If you own a salon and are interested in participating in GLO’s Salon Green Dreams campaign, you can register on their website here.
