Static Salon: On A Mission To Save The Environment One Haircut At A Time

Static Salon Becomes A Green Circle Salon And Encourages Other Salons To Do The Same

By John Grossi

Did you know that the beauty industry sends 877 pounds of waste into a landfill each second Yes, the big dark secret of the beauty industry is that it leaves a pretty ugly mark on our environment.

RaChelle Daniels, who has always billed her Static Salon as environmentally friendly, fretted that just putting half her shop’s waste into the recycle bin wasn’t good enough. Much of the recycled waste doesn’t get separated into actually usable materials. Plus, there are so many more wastes generated during hair treatment processes that never make it into a recycle bin

at all. Hair clippings, excess color down the sink, the list goes on.

That’s why Rachelle is proud to announce that Static Salon is now a certified Green Circle Salon, which means 95% of their salon waste is recycled and repurposed. As an environmental activist at heart, she is encouraging other local salons to join the effort as well.

“The average six-chair hair salon throws about 200 lbs of hair color a year into the rivers, oceans, down the sink. There are 164,000 hair salons in California!” RaChelle explains. That’s a lot of waste.

A certified Green Circle Salon means that every waste stream is analyzed and categorized, then separated for recycling purposes often in unconventional but impressive ways.

For example, hair clippings are collected and repurposed to create oil booms that soak up oil. The hair color that used to go down the drain is processed to remove the water, leaving the oil to be used as an energy source.

Other processes are used to recycle nail files, waxing strips, cotton swabs, paper, cardboard, plastics, and even PPE waste.

The opportunity to recycle PPE waste such as facemasks, disinfectant wipes and gloves appealed to RaChelle and presented a favorite reason to become a Green Circle Salon.

“When I look out into our parking lot each day and see all these masks all over the ground it makes me so frustrated. Now we have somewhere to put them that is much better than the

trash.”

The PPE materials are incinerated to create energy for homes and businesses and the ash is used to make filler in asphalt, brick and other construction materials.

Besides the amount of waste typically generated in hair salons each day, the facemasks and other PPE material that became necessary during the pandemic represent a disheartening new waste stream going into the world’s landfills.

So even if you do not go to her salon, RaChelle not only invites, but sincerely urges you to drop off your PPE to her recycling box each and every week. All the disposable masks and gloves in Long Beach now have a greater purpose after they’ve been used - to go back into creating energy for the city’s residences.

For more information on the incredible waste generation that happens during the hair treating process and how salon owners like RaChelle are fighting to fix it, head to www.greencirclesalons.com.

Or better yet, visit Static Salon, drop off your used PPE materials, and ask questions about this exciting step toward the future from your neighborhood salon!