But the people behind a salon in Eaglehawk are making moves to cut that, taking part in a program that aims to reduce the impact of the beauty business on the environment.

Carrissa Booth and Fleur O'Dwyer run High Street Beauty Gallery and have signed on to Sustainable Salons, a social enterprise that collects salon waste, recycles it and donates the proceeds to food charities OzHarvest and KiwiHarvest.

Miss Booth said she had followed Sustainable Salons for about five years and wanted the program to come to Bendigo, but it was Eaglehawk tip approaching capacity that pushed her to really put the pressure on.

Up to 95 per cent of the salon's waste now gets recycled - even the hair, which is transformed into such products as booms to soak up oil spills in the ocean.

Used aluminium foil is melted down and turned back into foil for purchase and further use in salons.

"It's really sophisticated recycling," Miss Booth said.

Miss Booth said the amount of waste produced in a year was typically about the size of the building a salon occupied, but High Street Beauty Gallery had cut the waste ending up in landfill to perhaps three bins.

"It's made for a cleaner salon," she said.

This effort to reduce the salon's environmental impact changed the way stock was purchased: Miss Booth said she did not purchase products wrapped in lots of plastic.

She said it had also influenced how she provided her services, as she was more mindful and less wasteful with chemicals.

Miss Booth said chemicals too were collected by Sustainable Salons and this made for a healthier environment within the salon as they were placed in sealed buckets, which minimised the vapours in the air.

The initiative came with a small fee but so far, she said, customers had welcomed it.

"They can have a haircut, knowing it can help soak up oil spills in the ocean - they're really happy," she said.

Now Miss Booth hopes the movement continues and more salons take action to reduce their waste.

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