Building Sustainability into Salons and Spas

By Carina Franck - Founder and Owner of Kalahari Lifestyle International

Did you Know?

• 70% of the waste from the beauty industry comes from packaging. • In 2018, more than 120 billion units of cosmetics packaging were produced globally - the majority of which were not recyclable. • Over the past 50 years, world plastic production has doubled. • By 2050, there will be as much plastic in the ocean as there is marine life.

Sustainability has been a buzzword on the lips of consumers and businesses alike for the past several decades. Even so, sustainability is still in its infancy, and continuing to evolve as we are.

Pioneering beauty brands focusing on positive-impact innovation are paving the way for greener companies and products to take over the market. These ecoconscious organisations are showing their less sustainable peers that green is not only the new glamorous - it's also the only way to preserve the well-being of our planet. But what role does the beauty industry play in terms of pollution, and what can we do about it?

Combatting Chemical Ingredients

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of product ingredients; how eco-friendly the origin of their ingredients are, as well as their potential effects on health. The everyday eco-smart consumer is ready for these challenges to be addressed, particularly newer generations. A 2018 McKinsey & Business of Fashion study revealed that 66% of global Millennials are willing to spend more on sustainable fashion brands. This could very well be the case for cosmetics companies as well.

The chemical ingredients used in many cosmetics contribute to a large portion of toxic pollution - labels containing ingredients you can't pronounce are warning signs. Of the 10 500 known active chemicals used in cosmetics, only 11% have been tested to measure their impact as a potential carcinogenic.

Furthermore, the largest cause of pollution when it comes to chemical ingredients might surprise you microbeads! A tube of facewash can contain over 300 000 microbeads, and they are so small that it's impossible to pick them up using ordinary sewer machines. These plastic microbes do not biodegrade and are mistaken by wildlife for food. As a result of this, humans land up ingesting them through animals in the meat we eat.

More than just ingesting harmful ingredients, the testing of these ingredients on animals is of an even graver concern. While many people believe that animal testing is necessary for medical progress, the reality is that the majority of animal experiments do not contribute to improving human health.

“Each year, more than 100 million animals are killed in U.S. laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing.” - Sites PETA

So what is the solution to the chemical ingredient issue? In order for us to tackle pollution caused by harmful ingredients, we need to start incorporating as many natural ingredients as possible into the products we use and create. This means choosing - and becoming - brands whose environmental values align with our own.

Furthermore, until we ban the use of microbeads in cosmetics like countries such as the USA have done, we could replace them with natural exfoliation mediums. Natural exfoliation has been practiced for thousands of years and there are a plethora of nonhazardous alternatives available in the form of Jojaba beads, Pumpkin enzymes or even terrycloth facial mittens for more gentle exfoliation.

Another solution is to do your research when it comes to companies who utilise animal testing - knowledge is power. Knowing your products, ingredients and the values of the beauty brands you support is often the best defence.

While toxic ingredients are having a negative impact on the safety of both animals and human beings alike, they pale in comparison to the growing concern that pollution is creating as a result of cosmetic packaging. The Pretty Packaging Problem

By far the leading culprit in pollution is packaging. As mentioned previously, 70% of waste caused by the beauty industry is from packaging!

Transport packaging such as over-sized boxes, polystyrene and bubble wrap can be not only harmful, but excessive and unnecessary. Over-andabove that, packaging used to house physical products is mostly made from unsustainable plastic, and once the product is depleted, the packaging is discarded and unable to be re-used or recycled.

We can minimize the effect of packaging by utilizing brands who consciously package their products, as well as pay attention to their transport packaging. If plastic is a necessity; PET plastic is a wonderful alternative. Furthermore, when it comes to transport packaging, wooden shavings, old newspaper and paper offcuts can be used to fill boxes instead of harmful plastics or Styrofoam.

Sustainable packaging can be eye-catching and good for the environment simultaneously - you need only be creative! Netherlands-based group LCA found that if refillable containers were used for cosmetics, as much as 70% of carbon emissions associated with the beauty industry could be eliminated.

Costly Cosmetic Consumables

While the beauty industry is primarily focused on the pollution caused by harmful ingredients and packaging, waste caused by cosmetic consumables is being severely overlooked. Cosmetic consumables include single-use products such as plastic cotton buds, facial sponges, disposable surgical caps and so on.

“In the UK alone, it is estimated that people use 1.8 billion single-use plastic cotton buds every year.”

Between 2015 and 2018, single-use cotton buds were in the top 10 items found during beach cleans across the country! To add to this, the facial sponges that are used to cleanse the skin during treatments are not only unhygienic due to the bacteria that hide in the oscula (pores of the sponge), but they take years to break-down. Even as they separate, they cannot biodegrade, and just become smaller and smaller. These microplastic cells are similar to microbeads and are extremely harmful to wildlife.

Thankfully, there are solutions. Now we can use paper cotton buds instead of plastic ones which are far more safe for our sensitive eco-system. Not only that, but re-usable facial mittens can be used in place of facial sponges, as well as washable terrycloth headbands instead of surgical caps. These items can be washed and re-used to not only prevent waste, but are more cost-effective for spa's and salons at the same time.

For companies today, particularly in the cosmetic industry, it's not enough just to sustain. From an environmental perspective, just not negatively impact the world is not enough - you have to add a positive. The access consumers have to information is constantly growing and their knowledge evolving, the beauty industry needs to evolve with them in order to remain relevant and successful - if you aren't one step ahead, you're already ten steps behind. Together, by making a conscious effort to ensure the cosmetic industry becomes more sustainable as a whole, we truly can make green the new glamorous.