Hair Salon Waste Disposal

Hair salons and beauty parlours have specialist waste disposal needs to get rid of everything from old hair dye to broken hairdryers. As a registered waste carrier, we understand these needs and can ensure you meet your legal obligations by organising storage and waste collection solutions for your hair salon.

As a salon owner or manager, it’s your duty to ensure the correct hair salon waste disposal procedures are in place. For example, human hair is non-biodegradable and can cause environmental issues if not disposed of correctly. Your salon is legally responsible to ensure human hair waste is managed, stored, and disposed of correctly.

Taking human hair to a local tip or disposing of it at home is illegal, as it needs to be transported and disposed of by licensed waste carriers. Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online for a free quote for hair salon waste disposal – or learn more about the types and methods below.

UK legislation provides a framework for the disposal of waste and governs how different waste types must be stored and disposed of. Hair salon waste can be separated into different categories to prevent contamination. Each category has different rules around its storage and disposal.

Businesses are legally required to separate recyclable rubbish from general waste. Much of the rubbish your hair salon produces can be recycled. This includes rinsed out shampoo and conditioner bottles, carboard packaging, and the magazines your clients have got bored of flicking through. Empty aerosol cans can be placed with metal recycling and if you offer disposable beverage options then many plastic cups are recyclable too.

For highlights and other hair services, your salon may use tinfoil. Recycling hair salon foils is possible if the foil can be scrunched and hold its shape. If the foil springs back when scrunched, it’s metallised plastic film and recycling these hair salon foils isn’t possible, so you must dispose of it with general waste.

Recycling hair dryers is also important. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 provide rules around the recycling of electronic products. We can help ensure that your broken straighteners, hairdryers, and other types of salon equipment are disposed of correctly. Use a WEEE bin to store any electronic items for recycling.

Did you know, you’re legally obligated to take back old electronic products when customers are purchasing a new one? If your salon sells electrical hair styling tools, you need to make this service known to your clients.

Hair salons should aim to be more sustainable to reduce their environmental impact and to make significant financial savings. The more hair salon recycling you do, the less waste you send to landfill and less landfill tax you have to pay. These are some of the top ways salons can be more sustainable:

To ensure that your hair salon bins are compliant with your obligations under waste disposal regulations, we can provide all the necessary bins for free. This helps ensure your hair salon waste is correctly separated and disposed of. You simply pay for their collection and our licensed waste carriers will remove the bins at an agreed time.

Our 7-day-a-week hair salon waste collections are flexible to suit the needs of your business and can be daily, weekly, or fortnightly. For some clinical waste and sharps bins, this service can be on an ad-hoc basis. Explore the bins we can provide to improve your hair salon recycling.