Whether you are a make-up artist, therapist or salon owner, the path to sustainability doesn’t have to be a solo journey or a daunting overhaul. By implementing small, intentional changes such as streamlining your waste management, making tweaks to the products you use, evaluating your energy or utility usage, you can significantly reduce your footprint while meeting the growing demand from eco-conscious consumers.

To help you transition from ambition to action, we’ve curated a checklist to help.

Utilise Existing Guides

There’s no need to start from scratch. A wealth of expert resources exists, tailored specifically to the different sectors of the UK hair and beauty industry, providing clear roadmaps for reducing your environmental impact.

• Planet Positive Beauty Guide Assembled by the British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition, this is the definitive industry guide on how to help consumers make eco-friendly choices more confidently.
• The Anne Veck Sustainability Tool Kit showcases the various ways of applying ‘Reduce, reuse, recycle!’ principles to make hairdressing more sustainable.
• Climate Fresk offers a 3-hour collaborative workshop to help organisations understand fundamental climate science and identify practical climate actions they could implement and scale.
• BABTAC has written a Best Practice Guide to help beauty companies carry out an Eco/Sustainability Audit.
• L’Oreal provides free Hairstylists for the Future Leaning Plan to help salons and stylists take action around their water usage, waste and carbon footprint.
• The following guide contains advice from make-up artists on minimising waste on set.
• Mirror Talkers is a pilot study that explores ways to reduce individual consumer water and carbon footprints related to haircare routine, chiefly by introducing small messages on hairdresser mirrors to engage clients in conversations about sustainable hair care.
• This Climate Action Playbook introduces the Net Zero Salon Programme and guides you through simple and affordable ways for your salon to reduce emissions.

Learn from Others

From eco-innovative salons to carbon-neutral freelancers, real-world success is the best inspiration. Aaron Firmstone, Creative Artist at Craft in Tring, won British Hairdressing Business Awards 2026 Sustainable Salon of the Year.

“A key way the salon worked towards being eco-focused was to look at the parts of the salon that create the most waste or could be best adapted to create a more positive impact.

We have partnered with the Green Salon Collective to recycle perishables in the salon like foil, disposable towels and hair. We also recycle our gloves and empty colour tubes through TerraCycle.

We recommend looking at the core aspects of your fit out or new features and see if there is a sustainable option that fits with your ethos. For example, we opted for a cork floor, as it’s carbon neutral and helps to retain heat. To regulate the temperature within the salon, we have opted for heat pumps. Our space is painted with chalk paint that absorbs impurities and the space is filled with plants to purify the air and create a sense of serenity.

We serve water from aluminium cans that are endlessly recycled. Our cups are made from coffee husks, giving this compostable byproduct a purpose and preventing cups from ending up in landfill. The chocolates provided with our refreshments come in recycled paper packaging, while our tissues are made from sugar cane. The used coffee grinds are mixed into the soil of our plants to nourish them.

A large proportion of the salon’s furnishings are second life, helping to reduce the amount of items going to landfill and complete the loop of the products’ life cycle. In keeping with this ethos, our cocktail bar is made out of waste from landfill, turning waste into long life items that are part of daily life.”

Seek Out Business Recycling Programmes

Standard council bins often can’t handle the unique waste our industry produces. Connect with specialist recycling partners who can properly manage everything from used foils and colour tubes to hair clippings. For more information read (link to new articles about Know your recycling symbols and Recycling programmes for business)

Introduce Your Own ‘Take-Back’ Scheme!

Help your clients close the loop by encouraging them to return their empties to you. This sends a positive message that your business is climate conscious and encourages customer loyalty as well as repeat business and footfall. To make this easy, we have partnered with MYGroup to offer a dedicated British Beauty Council recycling box and created a ‘takeback’ recycling map for you to list your business on and help direct future clients your way!

Join the Movement!

Collective action is where the real power lies. At the Council, we’re all about sharing challenges in order to overcome them; encouraging industry to work together and create industry-wide movements. The Sustainable Beauty Coalition (SBC) was formed to accelerate environmental and social change within the beauty industry. Want to keep up to date with news and events from the SBC? Sign up to become a free member of the British Beauty Council to receive our Sustainable Beauty Coalition newsletter.

Further Reading

If you want to read more on sustainability and why it matters, we recommend the following reports:

• Courage to Change 
• UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025
• Progress in Reducing Emissions 2025