KNOW BETTER DO BETTER, GINA CONWAY’S SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

I am bringing the future forward. They say in 10 years London will be in a water shortage. The effects of this will be devastating to the lives and livelihoods of this great city. As a salon and spa owner who uses water and electricity as a large part of my operations, I needed to do something now and I want to share my best practices to all who will listen. I’m bringing sustainability to my business through sweeping initiatives that are making a huge difference and heading toward our goal of Carbon Neutrality. To manage my commitment to this I have been working with a consultant on sustainability. She inspires me daily to think about every decision from a new perspective.

Our ‘Pledge to the planet’ wall is filled with team and customers promises about what they will change toward a green future. If I can start a ripple through the thousands of clients and my 100 strong team about the way they think about their actions, then we will be on our way to influencing the world, one step at a time. For me, I want to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Having Aveda as my haircare, beauty and colour brand, is perfect for me as they are wind manufactured, cradle to cradle packaging and ethical ingredients sourcing.

I have made some simple changes in my business:

1. Moved to a 100% green supplier.
2. Reduced colour waste by using technology that measures to the gram, so less pollution being washed down the sink
3. Introduced Eco Shampoos, which is a technique I designed to reduce water, product and energy
4. We use First Mile, a recycling company for our waste which offers a Zero to landfill program
5. We no longer us plastic bottles and paper coffee cups
6. We encourage the team to find alternatives to driving through the Cycle to Work Scheme
7. We have replaced all lights to low energy
8. Where possible, we upcycle rather than throw to landfill
9. We use Ecosia as our search engine, which plants a tree roughly every second

Last but not least, we spread the word about what to do on social media making sustainability cool.

I am also proud to be one of the first salons in the U.K working with the Green Salon Collective, a new initiative who can recycle every part of my business, even down to the hair and colour tubes. They are helping us to totally rethink how we work daily in our salon and I am so excited to be one of the first to start the new wave of sustainable salons in the UK.