Turning Green
With all of the rage and pressure to go green, there are some places that are taking that to heart. I ran across this great article about greening your schools. The article I’m referring to is Do Colleges Need Green Czars? And I found out that colleges and universities are hiring people dedicated to making their schools more eco-friendly.
The ‘campus sustainability coordinators’ are people hired to help make the changes to an old school. Or they are brought in at the developmental stages of the new buildings to make them green.
This topic piqued my interests because some schools use more energy than others. I wanted to know which of these schools are turning over a new leaf. When you think of it – a cosmetology school might use more electricity and energy than a standard college. My thoughts about this were from the fact that cosmetology schools use a lot of water and energy for their styling tools. So I wanted to know if beauty schools were following suit in hiring Green Czars to transform their schools into eco-friendly ones.
After some digging – I found that some cosmetology schools were taking the initiative in going green. Some Aveda schools use energy-efficient light bulbs and water sensors to help control the use of water. Some have even set-up a recycling program to help curb the waste that is piling up in the trashcans.
It is good to know that some schools are taking responsibility and learning of the impacts that they have on the planet. Now, it is up to you to research the beauty school you want to go to and find out if they are helping the problem. And if they’re not doing all they could, you can become your own kind of “Green Czar” and help out once you’re a student!
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Tags: beauty, cosmetology school, going green, Gree Czars
August 20th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Yes, going green is a very important subject these days. Last March at America’s Beauty Show at McCormick Place, Chicago we had the Salon Sustainability Summit (it will be back at 2009′s show too!), the first ever in the salon industry!
The panelists for this event were:
Darrin Duber-Smith, Kristin Chou, Jerry Gordon, Geno “the closer” Stampora, Frederic Holzberger,
Davide Bollati and Mary Beth Janssen.
Here are just a few ideas based on Cosmetologists
Chicago’s three key elements of sustainability for
salons – 1) continued economic development to
sustain our businesses, 2) social progress to support and protect our communities and 3) an active and involved concern for the environment that will maintain the earth as we know it.
Economic development to sustain our businesses:
Review your supply chain. The choices we make
support a long line of decisions. Take the time to
find out more about those you do business with and
their commitment to sustainability. Kristin Chou
Attain profitability through a thriving salon/spa
business that generates income up to $1000 per
square foot. Maximize your current space and do
not expand until you are operating at least at 80%
capacity. Frederic Holzberger
Save water: Keep water tap closed to save water
while massaging in color, shampoo or conditioner.
One drop of water wasted every two seconds
equals 4,000 liters annually. Installing a water
flow regulator at the faucet can reduce monthly
water bill by 50%. Davide Bollati
Recycle everything possible—even your empty
(aluminum) color tubes. Aluminum has a 99%
recycling rate. Recycling just one aluminum soda
can save the same amount of energy it takes to run
a TV for three full hours. Mary Beth Janssen
Support and protect our communities
Inspire your customers. Your business is based on
your relationship with your customers. Share your
eco-activism with them. You may become their
source of inspiration for both beauty and sustainable business practices. Davide Bollati
Share your services. Perhaps once a month or once
a quarter, you can share your services or products
with people who would not typically experience
them. Reach out to your community. Kristin Chou
Campaign to actively encourage all your staff and
salon/spa guests to not only register to vote, but to
act on their right to vote on Election Day—whether
for local, state or national elections.
Frederic Holzberger
Make some or all of the power to run your salon
generated by green/renewable technologies (wind,
solar, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, biomass, etc.) Check with your local government
regarding any tax incentives that might be offered.
Mary Beth Janssen
An active and involved concern for the environment
Buy things that last. Reduce waste by buying
items for your salon that are designed well and
built to last. It may be more convenient to purchase
disposables, but the consequence is an enormous amount of physical waste as well as lost
of energy needed to produce and break it down.
Davide Bollati
Wash all your salon laundry in warm or cold water
instead of hot. The energy savings are tremendous
and prevents millions of tons of CO2 emissions.
Change all light bulbs where possible to CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs or LED lights. They
use about 66 percent less energy and last up to 10
times longer than conventional. Switch to recycled
toilet paper, napkins and tissues.
Mary Beth Janssen
Make more intelligent decisions regarding
environmental product choices for all your
cleaning and laundering as well as the products
used to perform services on your guests.
Frederic Holzberger
Bring plants into the salon as a visual reminder to
encourage caring, respect and value. Kristin Chou
“You are the reason young people will join
our profession. Passion – pass it on!”
David Raccuglia
Come see the Salon Sustainability Summit in person! It’s back for its second year at
America’s Beauty Show at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois on March 28 – 30, 2009.
It will be co-located with America’s Expo for Skin Care & Spa. Find out more and to register at http://www.AmericaBeautyShow.com.
-Kristen