Being a creative entrepreneur, it’s my passion, and I love that now with Sustainable Salons Australia (SSA) I have created a beauty and body space that is both ethical and sustainable.
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Being a creative entrepreneur, it’s my passion, and I love that now with Sustainable Salons Australia (SSA) I have created a beauty and body space that is both ethical and sustainable.
"Community is really what drives our passion for the business. When we think of ‘community’ we think of our team of artisans who continually inspire us, our guests whose loyalty and patronage make it all possible, and our wider community who we like to give back to whenever we can." - Brett McKinnon, owner of The Murphy Gozzard Hair Community, Paddington (NSW).
We have been in business for 30 years, so while we still focus on running a profitable business, we are not just driven by a relentless chase for profit. We are also passionate about educating and training of our staff, employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction.
Today's post is the first installment in a brand new series we're rolling out here called 'The Sustainable Salon Spotlight'. Sustainable Salons Australia is so thrilled and proud to be working with such an incredible group of salon owners who are dedicated to giving back and making a difference for our environment and future generations. Our new series will highlight some of these salons we're working with, and provide suggestions from each salon owner on how they've made becoming a sustainable salon work for them!
We're excited to be sharing the second post in our new series: The Sustainable Salon Spotlight. This month's Sustainable Salon Spotlight features Luc Espace.
We started taking sustainability seriously when we transitioned from material towels to disposable in order to minimise our impact on water and electricity. Then we saw the financial benefits and the fact that our staff could focus more on hairdressing and less on laundry. We then started to explore other ways to minimise our carbon footprint such as installing LED lights and using Refoil (recycled and recyclable foil), now with the new partnership with SSA we have almost a carbon neutral salon. Most of the materials used in building our new salon are from recycled or renewable sources.
In 2014 we did an audit as part of the ACT government ACTSmart business program. We were horrified by the fact that we were 100% landfill! Of course, we knew we weren’t being very green but the audit gave us the grave news in a focused way. It was definitely time for a change. We began by changing lights to LED, using Ecohead taps to reduce water wastage, put chemical waste into bin instead of down the drain. In addition, we started collecting cardboard and plastics and taking them to the local recycling centre. We then started using EasyDry towels and Refoil. Now we are part of Sustainable Salons Australia and life is super peachy!!
I've always taken sustainability seriously. I'm from a family who always recycled and lived in a sustainable manner so it was always important to me for my business to reflect that. I'm always looking at ways to make the salon more sustainable, from energy saving lights, to switching to biodegradable coffee pods. If there is a more sustainable option I will always explore it.
Being an Aveda salon we have always taken sustainability seriously. From the very beginning 6 years ago. Part of Aveda's mission is to care for the world we live in, from the products we use, to the ways we give back to society. As a salon, we quickly adopted ways and habits which supported this.