Hairdresser Rodney Wayne Albany adds $2 'Green Service Fee'

Rodney Wayne Albany will charge customers an extra $2 to become more sustainable. Photo / 123RF

An upmarket Auckland hair salon is getting customers to chip in an extra $2 to get their hair done.

Rodney Wayne posted on their website that the Albany salon will be adding a "Green Service Fee" to customers' bills after joining Australian resource recovery programme Sustainable Salons.

"Each time you visit our Sustainable Salon your service bill will include a small Green Service Fee of just $2 that will support the salon to keep its commitment to sustainability without compromising the quality service we offer you," the post reads.

Bur Rodney Wayne Albany owner Stuart Macmillan defends the move, saying it has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

"To date the response from our clientele has been overwhelmingly positive.

"The majority of our clients love the Sustainable Salons initiative and the idea that a small portion of their service cost with us is going towards doing something really positive environmentally."

Macmillan said 100 per cent of the $2 green fee is passed on to Sustainable Salons, which is a not-for-profit organisation.

"The salon does not keep any of this money. We are transparent about the green fee so our clients can see they are contributing to something positive.

"All proceeds from the repurposing of Sustainable Salons goes towards helping to feed vulnerable New Zealanders via a charity called KiwiHarvest."

Founded in 2015, and launched in New Zealand in April last year, Sustainable Salons is a programme designed for the salon environment that rewards participants and gives back to the community.

It specialises in collecting up to 95 per cent of the salon bin and redirecting all material for reuse, recycling and repurposing solutions.

Among the products collected are paper, plastics, metals, hair (including ponytails), chemicals, razors, tools and tin foil.

Hair gets swept up to be made into hair booms which are used in the clean-up of oil spills along the coastline.

The company is also the largest collector and donor of ponytails in Australia, sending them to charitable organisations and wig-makers to be made into wigs for those suffering from medically-induced hair loss.

Items such as tin foil are sold to a company that melts it all down and makes it into more tin foil for hairdressers to reuse, while all the plastic goes to a plastic company that makes it into outdoor furniture.

The owner of the Rodney Wayne Albany franchise has been approached for comment.