So many times, it seems like lives are getting harder, and at the same time, we work to make lives better by making our clients look and feel great. But what else can we do to make life better? Our team always looks to see what we can do to improve everyday life that does not require changing the successes our team has built. So, we started looking around and realized we were not fully maximizing our recycling opportunities.

As with most salons today, we do a ton of hair color, which also means we produce a ton of post-use material. "Post-use material" is what we used to call garbage; empty tubes or bottles of color, boxes the tubes came in, empty bottles of developer, the boxes everything came in from the distributor and the packing material in those boxes. When you look at the amount of excess waste it takes to provide the professional beauty services salons offer, it's mind blowing and not pretty.

Over the last few years, manufacturers have been increasing the amount of post-consumer recyclable materials, yet unfortunately, many never realized or recognized new symbols had been put on packaging signifying it is recyclable.

Now our color bar features one garbage can and two recycling bins because we discovered more of the tools we use are recyclable, not disposable. We set up a system: First we have a computer at the color bar so we are able to inventory and track all of our color use by connecting a scanner and entering all the bar codes for every color, developer, lighteners and even boxes of gloves. Then, any time a tube or bottle of hair color is opened, the box or bottle is first scanned to deduct it from inventory before the color is mixed, then the empty box is put into the recycling bin. When a new bottle of developer in needed, first the old bottle is disposed of in the recycling bin, then the new bottle is scanned to deduct it from inventory so it can be automatically re-ordered. We do the same with bottles of hair color-recycle the used bottle first, and then scan the new bottle before it is opened.

The Color Bar at our Studio.

This becomes a habit very quickly and you will see very quickly that like last night, when I took the garbage out at the end of our day at the studio, we had three large bags that went into the recycling bin and one bag that went into trash. A small step for us and a giant leap for all of us together.

Patrick McIvor is the artistic color director with Matrix – the leading professional haircare and haircolor company in the United States and part of the L'Oreal USA Professional Products Division. He owns patrick mcivor color studio (Bethlehem, PA) and studio two (Allentown, PA) – the two hottest hair studios in the Lehigh Valley. As one of the most respected colorists in the industry, McIvor mentors his team by involving them in runway work at New York Fashion Week; fashion/beauty editorial shoots and interviews with publications like Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Real Simple, Seventeen, Family Circle and Allure (editors named him best colorist in the USA); and television segments on "The 10! Show"/NBC Channel 10, WFMZ "Channel 69 News" and "Good Housekeeping Reports." His studio provides stellar hair services inspired by international cosmopolitan influences such as fashion, cultural and global trends. In other words, guests leave with beautiful, sexy believable hair. McIvor is also featured in the book "50 Hairstylists."