Businesses in the hair and beauty industry include (but are not limited to):
- hair salons
- beauty salons
- nail salons
- barbershops
- spas
- cosmetic clinics
- mobile salons
- home-based salons
- tattoo and piercing salons.
Your legal obligations
The things you do at work can cause pollution and create waste. These activities can put human health and the environment at risk.
Everyone has a duty to eliminate or reduce risk to human health and the environment from pollution and waste, so far as reasonably practicable. This is called the general environmental duty (GED).
As a business owner, failure to eliminate or reduce your risks may result in:
- cleanup costs
- lost work time
- legal fees
- fines and penalties
- reputation and brand damage.
Managing your waste
You have a responsibility to appropriately:
- manage your waste
- dispose of it at a place authorised to receive it. This is called lawful place.
In addition to your solid wastes, you must also manage your liquid wastes. This may include having:
- a trade waste agreement
- consent from your local water authority.
This sets out how your business can safely discharge its non-domestic wastewater (trade waste) into the sewer system.
Check with your local water authority if you need a trade waste agreement or consent to ensure you are complying with your wastewater obligations. You can also ask your landlord or property manager as there may already be an agreement in place.
Waste from hair and beauty businesses includes (but is not limited to):
- expired and damaged hair, beauty, disinfectant and cleaning products
- rags and sponges contaminated with chemicals
- clinical and biomedical waste (for example, wax strips, razers, needles, swabs with blood)
- aluminium, plastic, glass, paper and cardboard
- electronic waste
- single-use items
- wastewater (any liquid waste discharged into the sewer system that is not considered domestic sewage. This includes water mixed with products or residues from salon activities)
- products like face masks and chemical peels containing contaminants such as:
- endocrine disrupting chemicals
- volatile organic compounds
- phthalates
- parabens
- microplastics.
Different types of waste have different legal requirements. It's important you understand your obligations for the different waste types that you generate.
It's good practice to separate your different wastes for reuse and recycling.
Industrial waste
What it is
Waste generated by your business.
Kerbside waste collected by or on behalf of a council is not industrial waste at the time it is collected.
What you must do
Identify and classify your waste as per Schedule 5 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2021.
Provide sufficient information about your waste to the person transporting it.
Verify that the place receiving your waste is authorised to receive it. Do not illegally dispose of, abandon or pour your waste down the toilet, sink or stormwater drain as there are penalties for doing this.
What you should do if you are a home-based business
Check with your local council if you’re allowed to dispose of your business-generated waste in your kerbside bin by going to their website or contacting them directly.
Common examples of industrial waste
- Single-use items such as gloves, masks, paper towels, tissues, head caps, cotton pads and wipes, foam nail files, pumice stones and slippers
- Hair clippings
- Aluminium foil, aerosol cans and tubes
- Glass and plastic containers
- Cardboard, paper and plastic packaging.
Priority waste
What it is
A higher risk industrial waste. It requires more controls due to its higher level of hazard, potential to be mismanaged, or to encourage resource recovery or efficiency.
What you must do
In addition to all the obligations for industrial waste, you must also:
Take all reasonable steps to:
- ensure your waste is contained to prevent it from escaping into the environment
- separate your waste to ensure resource recovery remains practicable
- provide the person transporting your waste information about the nature and type of waste, risks of harm to human health or the environment and any other information necessary for them to comply with
- identify and assess alternatives to waste disposal including reuse and recycling and avoiding generating waste in the future.
Common examples of priority waste
Electronic waste such as batteries, hair dryers, hair straighteners, shavers, clippers, trimmers, nail lamps, hair removal machines, light therapy devices and facial steamers.
Reportable priority waste
What it is
The most hazardous waste type. It requires the highest level of controls.
What you must do
In addition to all the obligations for industrial waste and priority waste, you must also:
For reportable priority waste that is more than 50 litres:
- use Waste Tracker to track and inform us every time your waste changes hands.
For reportable priority waste that is less than 50 litres:
- if you don’t engage a reputable contractor permitted to transport and dispose of your waste at a lawful place, you may transport your waste without an EPA permission for no fee or reward.
Common examples of reportable priority waste
- Clinical and biomedical waste such as used needles and syringes, and used swabs, wipes and cotton balls contaminated with blood.
- Expired and damaged hair and beauty products and treatments such as hair dyes, hair bleach, perming and straightening solutions, keratin treatments, nail polish, nail polish remover and nail glue.
- Expired and damaged disinfectant and cleaning products such as barbicide, isopropyl alcohol and chlorine bleach.
Managing your risks
It is your responsibility to:
- understand the impacts of your business activities on people and the environment
- manage risks of harm from pollution and waste
- notify us of a pollution incident.
You may already be managing some environmental risks if you are following Victoria’s occupational health and safety laws.
A risk management process can help you meet your obligations and duties.
1. Identify hazards
Common environmental hazards hair and beauty businesses must manage include (but are not limited to):
- incorrectly storing, handling and using hair, beauty, disinfectant and cleaning products. This causes leaks and spills.
- pouring hair, beauty, disinfectant and cleaning products into stormwater drains. This pollutes waterways.
- mismanaging, transporting and disposing liquid and solid wastes at a place not authorised to receive it. This can pollute the environment.
- inefficiently using energy, gas, water and fuel. This could release greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the environment.
- releasing hydrofluorocarbon emissions from broken or damaged air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
Watch the Identify your hazards video for more information.
2. Assess risks
How the level of risk associated with each hazard you identified in step one could lead to harm. And how severe that harm could be and the likelihood of it occurring.
- Assess the likelihood of a hazard causing an impact, e.g., how likely is a leak of harmful chemicals from a broken bottle of hair dye to occur? Rare, unlikely, possible, likely or certain?
- Assess the consequence of each impact, e.g., what could happen if there was a leak of harmful chemicals from a broken bottle of hair dye to the environment?
- Calculate a risk rating for each hazard. Combine likelihood and consequence to determine the risk level for example, low, medium, high, extreme.
Watch the Assess your level of risk video for more information.
Common risks of harm posed by hair and beauty businesses
Release of harmful chemicals and liquids into the environment. This could be due to poor storage, handling, use, transport or disposal of products.
Incorrect disposal of waste into the environment due to poor containment during transport.
Disposal of waste at an unlawful place due to hiring an unlicensed contractor.
Contributing to climate change by using energy, gas, water and fuel inefficiently. Also, by not maintaining air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
3. Implement controls
A control prevents harmful events from initially happening (preventative controls). It can also limit the consequence or damage from a harmful event (mitigating controls).
Watch the Implement controls video for more information.
Controls to prevent and mitigate release, leaks and spills of chemicals and liquid products into the environment
Store products in a dedicated, well-ventilated storage area. It should be indoors where it’s cool, dry and away from direct sunlight, heat sources, moisture and drains. This includes storing chemicals (for example, disinfectant and cleaning products) in a separate designated storage area.
Keep products in their original, tightly sealed bottles and containers. Do not use any that are broken and leaking.
Regularly check for broken and leaking bottles and containers. Replace damaged or deteriorated bottles and containers promptly.
Regularly check product expiry dates. Never dispose of large quantities of expired and damaged products down the sinks, toilets, drains and stormwater drains.
Have a well-stocked spill kit and place it in an area where it is easily accessible.
Train staff on what steps to take in the event of a spill or leak to prevent it from leaving the site and ensure it is cleaned up immediately.
Implement a procedure for correct disposal of expired and damaged products. Contact your local council for advice on disposal facilities in your area. They must be authorised to accept your expired and damaged products. You can also contact the manufacturer to see if they accept expired and faulty products.
Controls to prevent and mitigate disposal of waste at a place not authorised to accept it
Clearly label bins and place in easily accessible areas. This helps staff to dispose of waste correctly and prevent cross contamination of different waste types.
Ensure you recycle aluminium, plastic, glass, cardboard and paper. Train staff on correct waste handling, disposal and recycling.
For RPW under 50 litres, contact your local council to find a lawful place where you can dispose of your waste. You can also use a licensed contractor to collect and dispose of your waste at a lawful place.
For RPW over 50 litres, use a licensed contractor to collect your waste and dispose of it at a lawful place. You must use Waste Tracker to show how you are disposing of your waste lawfully every time your waste changes hands.
General waste, which is not RPW, should:
- be managed in line with general housekeeping
- meet your council’s waste requirements
- meet your building lease arrangement, if applicable.
Controls to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
You may want to consider:
- replacing traditional light bulbs with energy-saving LED light bulbs
- turning off all lights, computers, and electrical appliances every night
- installing motion light sensors in less used areas of the salon, e.g., the storage room
- adjusting cooling and heating to match the season if safe to do so
- regularly maintaining air conditioning and refrigeration equipment. This includes checking for leaking refrigerant gases and maintaining air filters
- cleaning and maintaining tools and equipment to ensure they’re working properly. This will help them last longer and work more efficiently
- installing low-flow taps and showerheads which use less water
- buying locally sourced products that are eco-friendly and sustainable.
4 Check controls
Tracking the effectiveness of measures put in place to manage identified risks.
Evaluating controls and identifying new risks
Regularly check whether the chosen controls are adequately mitigating your risks. Also see if there are any new or emerging risks or changes that might affect existing controls. Creating and implementing different checklists for various processes and procedures can help.
Conduct weekly or fortnightly checks of all controls. This is to make sure they are working properly and well maintained. Checking existing controls also helps to see if they are still the most appropriate and effective option.
While testing the effectiveness of your controls, you can also look out for any new risks. You can do this by checking:
- hair, beauty, disinfectant and cleaning products are stored in their dedicated areas
- tools and equipment are regularly cleaned or oiled, serviced and maintained
- the salon’s electricity and gas bills to see if your controls are lowering GHG emissions
- the salon’s water bills to see if your controls are reducing your water usage.
Do regular hair and beauty product stocktakes. You can check expiry dates, quantities and condition of products (e.g., broken or damaged caps and bottles). This helps with:
- tracking your inventory levels
- prompting you to dispose of expired and damaged products
- preventing overstocking and storage of excess expired and damaged products.
Carry out daily checks of all waste bins to ensure they are:
- kept in good condition
- labelled correctly
- sorted and disposed of in the correct bin.
Once bins are full, check and ensure all different waste types are disposed of at a lawful place.
Check RPW has been lawfully transported and disposed of at a place authorised to receive it. Also, you must use Waste Tracker to inform us and track the movement of your waste.
Conduct fortnightly or monthly checks to see if staff are up to date with all their training. You can also regularly test staff awareness and understanding of hazards, risks and what to do in case of a spill event.
Keep yourself and staff up to date with the latest information as new risks emerge, and better risk management practices become available. It is your responsibility to stay informed and updated.
You can download the Hazard and Risk Register template found in the Assessing and controlling risk: a guide for business to document your salon’s hazards, risks, controls and actions. Regularly review your hazard and risk register at least once a year and more often when there is an incident or near-miss and changes in staff, processes and equipment. Regular reviews support compliance, keep controls effective and support continuous improvements.
Watch the Check and maintain controls video for more information.
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