Get Drastic, Ditch Your Plastic!
By Graham Pollard, @Atelier29.london
Topics Covered
- Reducing plastic use in product bottles
- Eco-friendly hairdressing tools
- Sustainable clothing options
- Replacing plastic salon furniture
- Green back-office supplies
It’s July! Plastic-free July, an initiative set up by the Plastic Free Foundation in Australia, and now a global month of action.
So, what can salons and freelancers do to help reduce our reliance on a material that is now in the fish we eat and even inside our own bodies?
We are already moving in the right direction: plastic microbeads in beauty products have been banned in many countries for around a decade, and plastic-free biodegradable glitter is readily available.
Here’s my checklist hack of five things to think about:
1. Product bottles
Are you still using shampoos and conditioners that come in plastic bottles? They may be recyclable, but recent studies claim only 25% of plastic bottles in your recycling bag get reused.
Instead, try to move to a product that uses glass bottles or refills. I use INsight. There are plenty of great products out there that use glass and refills. But one word of warning on refills: soft plastics continue to be non-recyclable in many parts of the world. In the UK, for example, there are over 100 recycling centres, but only four of them can recycle soft plastic pouches. Refills are a great option, but ensure the manufacturer has a returns scheme for empty pouches. Alternatively, check whether your current provider has plans to stop using plastic containers. They will all have sustainability commitments on their website, so check and see.
Prioritise products with minimal or recyclable packaging and ensure your delivery boxes include plastic-free padding and cellulose tape, not bubble wrap and old-fashioned plastic-based sticky tape.
2. Hairdressing tools
There are some great mixing bowls and brushes now available on the market that are made of bamboo. They look stylish, work well, and are just as robust.
Plastic wraps, while reusable, are utterly unrecyclable, so use aluminium instead and join a local recycling programme such as Green Salon Collective. Also, you can increase the number of freehand works like balayage that require less foil.
Many towels contain microfibres; switching to compostable plastic-free alternatives (I use EasyDry). This eliminates the need to launder, saves time and energy, and conserves freshwater supplies.
If you use wet wipes at all, purchase the new water-based ones that are plastic-free. Of course, dispose of them in the rubbish bin and don’t flush them down the toilet. My local river (the Thames) has entire man-made “wet wipe islands” thanks to people flushing wet wipes away.
3. Clothing
You can get plant-based disposable technical capes that can be recycled.
New products are coming on the market all the time, and I’m the first Insight salon in the UK to be testing a technical apron that’s made from 100% recycled polyester. Hairdressing gowns made from 100% recycled polyester are also available now.
And what about you? Hopefully, your clothes are plastic-free. Ditch the fleece and don the cotton and wool.
These tips should save you pennies by reducing your need to use the washing machine. I just wash gowns.
Now there’s a new filter that I’m about to install on my washing machine which also stops microplastics from getting into the wastewater.
4. Salon furniture
Look around you. What plastic furniture can you change? I have just replaced my colour bar tint shelves with wooden ones. Some shelves were provided by the product manufacturer – the rest I made out of recycled wine boxes from the local corner store.
Plastic technical trolleys are common, but metal ones are also available and longer-lasting. The same goes for cutting stools.
5. Back-office supplies
Personally, I think I’d be greenwashing if I only applied my plastic-free ethics just front of house, so I have also reviewed how I do things in the staff kitchen and office.
Look around your sink. It can be a world of plastic: washing up bottles, kitchen scourers, washing up brushes, washing up bowls, draining boards, and utensil holders.
There are plenty of easily available options for all of these on the internet.
I use scourers made from walnut shells, wooden brushes with coir, copper and Tampico heads, and my washing up liquid is in a glass dispenser.
Last year I started drinking loose leaf tea in a bid to reduce tea bag usage and the release of yet more microplastics into the environment. There are some great tea infusers on the market, which are simple to empty into the food recycling, and quick to clean.
My latest tip came from my florist, who is now stopping providing sachets of flower food with each bunch. She’s concerned about yet more plastic being used in sachets and bleach polluting our waterways. Although there are a few manufacturers launching plastic-free and chemical-free alternatives, she swears by simply changing the water once a day. She says this is the best way to guarantee the longest life possible for your blooms.
