04: A CONVERSATION WITH FOUNDER OF SUSTAINABLE SALONS, PAUL FRASCA
An idea that stemmed during a 4-month road trip around Australia has quickly transformed into a leading movement and loyal community within the hair industry. Sustainable Salons, founded by Paul Frasca and Ewelina Soroko in 2015, was formed to redirect all salon material for reuse, recycling and repurposing solutions, saying, "for us, it's all about real change", and real change they have done. To date, the Sustainable Salons tribe have saved more than 583,800kg of materials from landfill, collected more than 90,000 ponytails and provided 118,000 meals to those doing it tough in our communities - and here at The Studio Upstairs, we're so proud to be part of the movement! Suppose you know our founder, Jessica Longhurst. In that case, you'll learn how important leading a sustainable life is to her, so when Jess discover Sustainable Salons, it was a no brainer for The Studio Upstairs to donate $2 from every service to the cause. We were lucky enough to have a moment inside Paul Frasca's idea churner to learn all about Sustainable Salons, how it started, what they're doing and where it's going.
How did Sustainable Salons begin?
Ewelina and I created Sustainable Salons 8 years ago after a very long drive around Australia – which, by the way, took 4 months and $7000 in petrol! We both still swear it’s the best adventure we’ve ever had. We had many very long discussions about hairdressing sustainability, and whether it was a product or a service that is needed. We didn’t know. And what we came up with was ZIP. Nothing. I still remember Ewelina saying to me, as a true intellect: “we need to study this more”. And as a true hairdresser, I was like “CRAP! Study!?” The next day we created a plan to study the waste bins of 160 salons in the hope that we’d find the answer we needed lying in their rubbish. To my relief, we did. We realised that salon waste had no place to go – except into landfill, or into a yellow council bin. That yellow recycle bin is a funny thing actually; it was designed for residential use and then shoved onto small business.
The problem with this is that generally, small businesses can’t actually put most of their waste in that bin, like hair or chemical waste, most plastic or fillers from product delivery – and get this; they even tell hairdressers not to put their foil in the bin. Are they crazy? It’s aluminium! Aluminium is infinitely recyclable! On top of this, we also found that there was a real lack of transparency as to where the recycle bin waste was ending up, and I’m sure many of you agree that the problem is seeing the same truck that picks up your waste then come and pick up your recycle bin. This is a confusing message! And it makes you wonder, what’s the point in doing good? So… we set out to fix the salon waste problem and create the greatest resource recovery service the world has ever seen! Sustainable Salons was officially brought to life just over four years ago in NSW, and operates in the ACT, QLD, VIC, SA… and now in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga in New Zealand, too!
What materials are repurposed?
We have several aspects to the resource recovery system… we collect paper, plastics, metals, hair (and ponytails!), chemicals, razors, tools and more! The hair swept up from the salon floor becomes a hair boom, which means when the client comes in to get a haircut, they’re directly contributing to the potential clean-up of an oil spill along our coastlines. This has lead to the Hair Boom Project.
What is The Hair Boom Project?
Sustainable Salons collects hair clippings from its salon members and stuffs them into sausage-like stockings to create Hair Booms that can one day be deployed to help clean-up oil-spills along our coastlines. To date, Sustainable Salons has collected more than 18,900kg of hair!
At The Studio Upstairs, we pay forward $2 from every service to Sustainable Salons. What is the $2 Sustainable Salons Fee used for?
In line with industry-standard sustainability thinking, we believe that we (the consumer) are each responsible for the ethical disposal of any waste produced by a product or service we choose to consume. Sustainable Salons has now made it possible for the consumer to eliminate 95% of the negative impact of their salon service for just $2 on their final service bill (though we can’t wait for the day that sustainability can be built into every product and service as the norm!)… all they have to do is choose to visit a Sustainable Salons member salon!
What has been the highlight for Sustainable Salons so far?
For us, it’s about creating real change. To date, we’ve saved more than 583,800kg of materials from landfill, collected more than 90,000 ponytails and provided 118,000 meals to those doing it tough in our communities!
What are the next steps for Sustainable Salons?
Sustainable Salons has grown in the last four years since our launch – from Sydney to Canberra, then to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. In April 2018, we expanded into our first overseas market – New Zealand! Kicking off in Auckland, the Sustainable Salons program has been adapted to impact and benefit the local market directly. We’re investing more time and resources into effective community collaborations and building consumer awareness.
Every day we work towards greater reach via projects such as The Green Chair, our quarterly publication on all things sustainability; we take up and instigate national press opportunities on news channels, documentaries and key fashion and beauty publications; create and organise community events in all territories, and now have a consumer directory on the Sustainable Salons website.
For more insight into all of Sustainable Salons projects or how to jump onboard visit their website here.