Composting is nature’s way of recycling and is one of the most powerful actions we can take to reduce trash in landfills, address climate change, and build healthy soil. This waste stream is gaining popularity in many areas of the US with food waste becoming a huge problem for our planet. However, many cities are only focused on food waste and offering little support for other products that are certified as compostable. Some of this lag is due to establishing an agreement on what is and is not acceptable at scale when it comes to soil regeneration.

Our Scrummi products carry the ‘Seedling’ certification, which is one of the strictest certification programs in the world, which makes it acceptable in any compost stream. However, not all municipalities are onboard…yet! The team at Sustain Beauty Co have been working with local companies one at a time to establish relationships for our salons. Check out where we have partners and get in touch to put your area on the list!

When you hear someone refer to their ‘local grid’ or their ‘commercial grid’ that means their city/county led waste providers. The sophistication, affordability, and availability of programs varies tremendously around the country. For example, waste management in Salem, Oregon is part of the city ordinance and is most often (but not always) sent to clean energy incineration. Rural areas nearby can sometimes opt in at an additional price, but there are no guarantees it makes it to incineration. In Los Angeles, CA most plastic placed in the blue mixed recycling bin isn’t actually recycled so the only way to ‘guarantee recycling’ is to sort yourself and find a provider to take direct donations.

Despite the irregularities, channeling as much of your waste into the local waste programs is ideal to minimize the impact of transporting waste. That needs to be weighed against your local programs and your ability to maintain the burden of sorting in your local area.

Because our industry wastes a LOT, we have specialty recyclers that give us programs for hard to recycle items –Green Circle Salons and SalonCycle.

Green Circle Salons was created by beauty industry leaders, pioneering strategies that put waste management at the core of many salon operational strategies. Their award-winning program empowers salons to recover up to 95% of their beauty waste. That includes previously unrecoverable materials and hard-to-recycle items like hair clippings, foils, excess hair color, aerosol cans, and color tubes.

SalonCycle Salons is backed by global waste leader TeraCycle, with international reach and programs that include composting and upcycling. Offering flexibility with their scalable programs, you participate by the box with no committment and choose where you want your waste to go (where possible).