How do you live a life that’s more sustainable? Follow this advice from Anne Veck and Keith Mellen, our Most Wanted Sustainability Heroes of 2021, in the latest episode of their free Salon Re:Source guide.
Anne and Keith have also updated their Salon Re:Source, a free guide packed full of tried-and-tested tips for running a more sustainable salon. It’s right here to check out…
Ethical Refreshments
Change to Fairtrade and sustainable coffee, tea and cold drinks. Offer vegan alternatives to milk, but be mindful that not all of them are sustainable. For example, almond milk requires substantially more water during growth and production stages than soy, rice, hemp, coconut or oat milk. It requires 100 times the amount of water than pea milk! And it’s production generates more CO2.
Sustainable cleaning
Switch to greener cleaning brands – you’ll find loads at ethicalsuperstore.com and sustainablylazy.com. Alternatively, white vinegar and baking soda make good cleaners, or you could clean the loo with a mix of citric acid and water. Check out wellnessmama.com for more options and how-tos.
If you use towels, wash them with eco-friendly detergents like Ecozone ecoballs, Ecover or Ecovibe. Remember to use a laundry bag or ball to collect the micro-plastics that are shed during the wash. We like Guppy Bag or Coraball.
Make tech last
Do you really need a new mobile phone? They include rare earth metals that are mined dangerously and ethically. Like most things, by keeping them a little longer you reduce the CO2 emissions involved in the manufacturing process.
Un-Google!
Use Ecosia instead – it invests its profits in tree planting.
Email energy impact
Send fewer emails, copy in fewer people, review all your subscriptions and delete any defunct personal email addresses you may have. Reduce the size of attachments, or replace with a hyperlink. Back up only what’s essential.
Fresh air is fabulous, so go live
Have potted plants, instead of cut flowers, to help oxygenate the air and keep it fresh. Try to buy from an independent nursery, where they can actually tell you something about the plant’s origins. Sometimes, pot plants can be as unsustainable as cut flowers!
Shop locally Food for thought Donate, donate, donate Sign up for change
Ditch what’s likely to be a toxic air freshener in a spray can for a pleasant green alternative like essential oil sprays or electric diffusers. But do avoid candles – they can be dangerous in salons!
Shop locally to support businesses like yours. Shop at the Co-op, which aims to be carbon-neutral by 2025. And reduce your online shopping as much as possible – it uses so much useless and dangerous plastic, paper and cardboard packaging, not to mention the massive increases in delivery miles by diesel vans and airplanes.
If you offer drinks or snacks remember to cater for all diets – gluten-free, vegan, vampire, etc. But maybe not junk food – there are limits!
Ditch those tiny biscuits individually wrapped in plastic and team up with a local bakery or café to provide tasty treats.
Give one day’s profit to a charity that’s focused on saving the planet or helping poor people in developing countries. Keep an authorised charity collecting tin at reception for the Hair and Beauty Charity. Donate hair to the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer.
Join the Race to Zero and go public with your plans to reduce your CO2 emissions. Share this link with everyone you know!
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Bigger steps, bigger impact!
