Blü Is Going Green...
The Basics...
As beauty business owners, we have some tough decisions to make. Balancing customer needs and demands with best business practices is one area where we are continually evaluating our position.
Over the past year we have taken numerous steps towards “greening” our business and working with suppliers and customers to improve our practices and lessen our footprint.
With that said, we do understand that there are harmful chemicals included in many of the products we use in our trade. Be assured that the folks at Bumble and bumble (and parent company Estée Lauder) are aware of this as well and are receptive to customer input and actively working to improve the quality of their products, as well as other business processes, in an attempt to offset any negatives. We have been working on establishing dialogues with the product development, sales and shipping teams at Bumble as part of an effort to pass along your (our customer's) voice and our firsthand experiences that could help to shape the better, smarter products and processes of tomorrow.
In the meantime, we have already implemented a number of initiatives and we're working on more...
Q19Greening
As part of our "Blü Goes Green" initiative, one of the most significant steps we've taken this year is the commencement of our partnership with Q19Greening. We feel lucky to have met up with Hannah Sandmeyer and her dutiful crew of "greeners" at Q19 when we did, as they represent just what we were looking for: a professional and affordable green alternative to conventional commercial janitorial services. These folks are knowledgeable and hard working. They use ONLY green cleaning products, they have super cool tricked out bicycles for transporting their people and materials from site to site, and they're friendly and responsive to boot. Hannah has also been a great help in assisting us with evaluating our current processes, brainstorming better alternatives and hooking us up with useful resources and local folks who are working on similar programs (a service that is free of charge!). We encourage you to check out their website and see if they can be of service to your business or someone you know!
Things we're doing...
In addition to our partnership with Q19, we've taken a number of other steps in the right direction:
Recycling Hair & Foils In August we integrated two new additions to our greening mission, recycling cut hair and color foils. We are now collecting all debris-free cut hair and shipping it in bulk to a network partner where it is used as the main ingredient in mats designed to soak up oil spills. Additionally, we now recycle all color foils thanks to our staff members (who have to crush the foils up into grapefruit-sized balls) and recycling partners.
Paperless Billing Wherever possible, we have worked with our vendors and service providers to eliminate paper statements and conduct transactions electronically.
Green Power Blü has been happy to participate in PGE's Green Source alternative energy program since May of 2009. For a modest premium, participation in the Green Source program reduces the quota of non-renewable energy available on the grid and supports the delivery and development of new alternative power sources. It's easy to sign up, just visit PGE's website for more info.
Greening out under the sink... Gone are the mass-produced carcinogenic cleaning staples that many of us had used for years. All of our cleaning products have been replaced with safe and environmentally friendly alternatives.
...and above... Most all of our paper products (paper towels, TP, envelopes) are made from post-consumer recycled materials. Likewise, the hand soaps you'll find in our bathroom and dispensary are 100% organic.
Minimizing waste... With the integration of our POS data management system, we have been able to substantially reduce our paper usage around the salon. Gone are the clunky appointment book and all the sales booklets - replaced by our streamlined electronic scheduling and sales systems.
Maximizing other opportunities... Thanks to our developing green networks, we are continuously on the lookout for new opportunities to modify our current practices and/or discover new products.
Things YOU can do...
We invite you to inquire with us about any of the elements of our improvement programs that we are working on - it would be incredible if folks walked out of here both looking great and armed with some new info to help make a positive impact. Better still, we invite you to share your ideas and what you may be doing around the office or at home to move in a similar direction. Feel free to drop us a line via email or share your comments or suggestions with our staff. We've already received some great input from folks and we're excited to use more feedback to shape the communications we have with our partners and suppliers in the future.
Lastly, we encourage our clients and staff to remember that, as consumers, it is in all of our best interests to send the right signals to markets and make it known that we demand better products! So, voice your opinions, encourage others to do so as well and rest assured that we will continue to work on our end to be the best business that we can be.
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