The Philadelphia salon recycles 95% of waste, including hair, foil and color scraps. Is that how it works.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A salon in downtown Philadelphia is going green, recycling Items that are normally thrown away after a haircut.

When client Kelly Lyons arrives at Pileggi On The Square salon, she says she leaves feeling “like a million dollars.”

And she is selective with her stylist.

“I don’t let anyone touch my hair,” Lyons said. “That’s all.”

Lyons trusts her locks in the hands of salon owner Kevin Gatto.

“We’re not in the hair business,” Gatto said. “We’re all about making people feel good about the business.”

Now, Gatto has a new way to create that wellness experience. Last month, she partnered with Green Circle Salons, an Ontario-based company that started in 2009. Sixteen thousand certified salons are sending their waste to be recycled and reused into things like plastics and clean energy. There’s even an online dashboard that tracks recycled waste.

“When we partnered with Green Circle Salons,” Gatto said, “we began recycling up to 95% of our salon waste.”

Gatto has recycling bins for different types of things that salons typically throw away, like metals.

“The aluminum foil that you see wrapped around customers’ heads, we take it right out of the container and throw it here,” Gatto said.

Another container is for hair remains.

“We sweep hair after all of our clients’ cuts,” Gatto said, “and with the leftover hair, Green Circle can make buoys to clean up or absorb oil spills.”

Gatto said leftover hair dye is thrown into a vat.

“Green Circle can extract the chemicals from the water, turn the water into drinking water,” Gatto said, “and take the chemicals and turn them into drinking water.” renewable energy of that.”

Each month, the waste is packaged and sent to Green Circle Salons.

A $3 green fee is added to each customer’s bill, which is sent to the Ontario company to cover their services.

Customers like Alex Snelling don’t mind paying a few extra dollars.

“It definitely makes you feel better to support a small business,” Snelling said.

Lyon agrees.

“Conservation was really important to me and reducing my carbon footprint was really important too,” Lyons said, “so when he mentioned he was doing this, I thought it was amazing.”

It’s a lifelong dream for Gatto.

“It helps me sleep at night knowing that we are making a small difference by not throwing our waste into landfills every day,” Gatto said.

With each cut and style, Gatto hopes to continue creating beautiful styles while preserving the beauty of the Earth.

In August, the salon will receive its first report measuring how much color, hair and metals they recycled during the first full month with the initiative.