A Holmfirth hair salon has joined a sustainable eco-campaign to recycle hair and hairdressing products to help save the planet.
Body & Sole in Huddersfield Road has signed up with the Green Salon Collective to recycle waste that would normally be washed down the sink or end up in landfill.
Hair will be swept up and collected and then sent off to make compost for gardens. But that is only the start.
Hair dyes, colours and bleach are also collected along with metal foil, plastics and tubes and all of it is recycled and used again.
Launched in July last year, the Green Salon Collective has 300 salons on board.
One of the latest to sign up is Body & Sole run by Leanne Foster, 33, who came across the idea in the latest lockdown.
“It’s a unique idea,” said Leanne. “We are an industry that is quite wasteful and this scheme is a positive way to help the planet.”
Leanne has purchased a hair bin, a plastics bin and a metals bin and separating the waste is key. It all gets stored and then put into a returns box which is then collected and recycled.
“Hair can be composed, the dye which normally goes down the sink and maybe ends up in watercourses and rivers gets turned into an energy source and the money from recycled metals pays for haircuts for the homeless,” said Leanne.
Hair salons have to pay for the service but it can be self-financing through a “green fee” of £1 paid by each customer.
Leanne was unsure how clients would react to an extra charge but she asked them on social media and the response was 100% supportive.
“I do find it difficult to ask customers for an extra £1 but when you ask people if they would pay an extra £1 to do their bit to help save the planet then everyone would say yes,” said Leanne.
“It’s not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things and it really will make a difference.”
Leanne, who is part of a team of four at the salon, is looking forward to starting on the recycling scheme when her business re-opens.
The date set under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown is April 12 but Leanne is not rushing to take bookings just yet.
“We are erring on the side of caution because the logistics of re-arranging appointments would be immense if the date changes,” said Leanne. “For now we’ll just wait and see.”
