The Gordon TAFE is celebrating a decade of partnership between its hairdressing and beauty programs with a not-for-profit resource recovery program.
Since 2016 The Gordon has been diverting 95 per cent of salon resources used during training sessions and client visits from landfill through the Sustainable Salons.
A not-for-profit program, Sustainable Salons helps businesses and organisations move toward zero waste, reduce their carbon footprint and implement sustainable work practices that benefit the local community.
In the past 10 years, The Gordon has sent more than 3.5 tonnes of waste material to be recycled or repurposed.
Hair has gone to charitable organisations and wigmakers or transformed into hair booms to soak up oil spills, plastic waste has become combs and sunglasses and tonnes of paper and metals have been recycled.
The Gordon’s retail program, lead Jacinta Ramsay, said the partnership with Sustainable Salons meant students were “learning their craft in a way that’s responsible, innovative, and community-minded”.
“We’re not only training the next generation of hairdressers and beauty professionals, we’re shaping a workforce that’s committed to sustainable practices from day one,” Ms Ramsay said.
The broader Sustainable Salons initiative, which operates in Australia and New Zealand, has diverted more than 2.2 million kilograms of resources from landfill.
Ms Ramsay said The Gordon was proud of its contribution to the measurable difference the program has made to the planet and local communities.
“This partnership shows how small changes can create big impacts,” she said.
“Every foil, every offcut, every strand of hair can be a resource rather than waste.”
