In North America alone, over 421,200 pounds of waste are produced every day in salons, equating to a monetary loss of £150 million ($186 million). According to the Green Circle Salon initiative, in the US and Canada, over 63,000 pounds of excess hair is wasted each day, with the bulk of it sent to landfill—alongside 42,000 pounds of excess hair color, lightener, and toner. Moreover, 74% of salons have yet to adopt beauty waste recycling services, with only 14% having ever tried a beauty waste recycling program; 86% report one of the main reasons is a lack of awareness about the topic. Hoping to raise awareness and educate salon professionals on salon waste and recycling schemes, the events corporation Questex has announced Green Life Organization (GLO) as an official partner of both the International Beauty Show (IBS) and International Esthetics, Cosmetics, and Spa Conferences (IECSC) at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

As an official partner, GLO will be responsible for providing different types of recycling boxes that will be stationed at the co-located shows, motivating attendees to correctly recycle waste produced at the event. The three boxes will be dedicated to different materials: hair recycling, mixed recycling, and aerosol and flammable recycling. They will be located at GLO IBS booth #2863 and GLO IECSC booth #1755. Through the collaboration, Questex and GLO hope to teach industry professionals how easy it is to correctly recycle salon waste—a tool they can then adopt at their own salons and spas.

Elizabeth Fantetti Trevorrow, Event and Partnership Director, Questex Beauty and Spa Group, commented on the collaboration, "We are proud to announce our partnership with GLO, an entity that empowers salons and spas to embrace sustainability. Together, we are redefining the industry's approach to eco-consciousness, offering a seamless path toward a greener future. As event organizers, we recognize the importance of leading by example. Through our collaboration with GLO, we not only support and educate on sustainable practices within salons and spas but also prioritize sustainability in our own events. By aligning our values, we can collectively reduce our environmental footprint and inspire others to do the same."

The recycling stations will collect the waste produced during the presentations on the Look & Learn stage at IBS and the Studio Stage at IECSC. "GLO is excited to partner with Questex's IBS and the IECSC to reduce landfill waste in salons and spas. Taking small steps to sustainability will drive a positive impact on the environment. We're on a mission to transform the world of beauty by building a greener tomorrow," adds Tonya Martin, Vice President of Business Development at GLO.

As the parent company of IBS and IECSC, Questex's choice to partner with GLO aligns perfectly with its mission to amplify sustainability in the beauty industry. Recently, the company also launched the Quest Zero Initiative, a road map to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions for the company and the events it hosts. The initiative has put several steps in place to reduce greenhouse gasses, including limiting lighting and HVAC  during set-up days, using local suppliers and labor when possible, and providing industry education. Through the program, Questex aims to become net zero by 2050.

Questex and GLO are not the only ones working towards raising salon sustainability awareness. Earlier this year, L'Oréal launched the Net-Zero Salons Program for British salons, offering a road map tool for measuring, tracking, reporting, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Data harnessed by the Net Zero Salons Program estimated that the average trip to the salon causes  6.8 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. This led to the initiative's decision for each company signing up to the project to start by reducing their emissions by 4.4 pounds, which would reduce carbon across the industry by 33%.

While there is still a long way to go for the salon sector to become more sustainable, those pioneering education, training, and programs that encourage sustainable practice are sure to make breakthroughs. GLO and Questex's choice to collaborate at an event that engages directly with industry professionals is a smart one that will hopefully encourage those at the heart of the salon sector to make progressive movements toward sustainability. As stated by Martin, it is the small steps that will lead to large progress.