Latest news with #Frasca
Eater
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Eater
A Boulder Italian Restaurant Just Won Its Fourth James Beard Award
The James Beard Foundation (JBF) Awards swept Chicago into a frenzy on Monday, June 16, at the Lyric Opera. Of all the Colorado contestants, upscale Italian restaurant Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder was named Outstanding Restaurant. This makes the restaurant's collective fourth James Beard Award. Though there was a lot of finalists headed into the final night of ceremony, 99 percent of the Colorado contestants lost out. That means Josh Niernberg for his work at Bin 707 Foodbar in Grand Junction did not win the Outstanding Chef award. In the Best New Restaurant, Denver's Alma Fonda Fina did not take home the gold, either. Further, Penelope Wong of Yuan Wonton did not win Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY), nor McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright for their drinks at Denver's Yacht Club. In Parker, Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos's creations at Poulette Bakeshop lost in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category. The awards just keep rolling in for Frasca, though. In 2008 Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson won the then-applicable Best Chef: Southwest for his work at the restaurant. In 2013 the JBF awarded Frasca in the Outstanding Wine Service category. And in 2019 the Boulder restaurant loved for its inventive, seasonal dishes won the Outstanding Service award. In 2023, that old tire company Michelin came to town and honored the business with a star and an Outstanding Service award. The night was a testament to the cuisine and work immigration brings to the United States. Only a few winners failed to mention the foodways that make their restaurants not just popular but possible. 'If you are new to the country and you don't speak the language, the hospitality industry is here for you,' Frasca Food and Wine's partner and master sommelier Bobby Stukey said on stage. • Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, CO See More:
Mint
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
The Best Restaurant in the US Serves Italian Food in Boulder, Colorado
if you're looking for the best country in America right now, you'll want to head to Boulder, Colorado. Frasca Food & Wine, whose specialty is the lesser known cuisine of Friuli in northeast Italy, snagged the title of best restaurant from the James Beard Foundation at an awards ceremony on Monday night in Chicago. The casually refined 21-year-old restaurant, from chef Lachlan McKinnon Patterson and acclaimed sommelier Bobby Stuckey, specializes in dishes like cappelletto affondato — burnt flour pasta with green and white asparagus and sheeps milk ricotta — and Alaskan halibut with green strawberries, wild ramps and baccala, the salt cod dish. The vast wine list is world-wide famous; it won Beard's outstanding wine program award in 2013. 'We are so humbled to have won outstanding restaurant,' said Stuckey after taking the stage to accept the award. 'This August, Frasca turns 21 years old and this award is for the communities of Boulder, Denver and Colorado.' It was the one winning Colorado restaurant in the national awards. Otherwise it was New York City's night. Of the 13 big deal national awards, New York dominated with four. Among the big wins for the Big Apple were the title of outstanding restaurateurs, which went to Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, operators of the wildly popular Le Veau d'Or on the Upper East Side, as well as Le Rock, in Rockefeller Center and Frenchette downtown. Outstanding hospitality went to Atomix, from Ellia and Junghyun Park, the gamechanging fine dining Korean restaurant that last year was ranked No. 6 in the Worlds 50 Best restaurant list. The outstanding chef is Jungsik Yim, chef and owner of Jungsik, the dynamic Korean dining room which made news in New York last year when it broke into the three Michelin star restaurant club. Outstanding cocktail professional is Ignacio Jimenez, better known as Nacho, at Superbueno in Manhattan's East Village, where the specialty is engaging riffs on classics like the vodka y soda, a crystal clear drink mixed with guava and pasilla. 'I can't describe how honored I feel to represent cocktails and their crucial role in hospitality,' he said, after the win. Jimenez also spotlighted the hard working Latin American restaurant community that he represents. 'I'm largely motivated by representing my heritage, both as a Mexican and as a New Yorker. It shines a light on the work that my community does every day and is a huge platform to create more opportunities for those that look like me, who aren't always afforded the same opportunities and come from where I come from.' Likewise, Vijay Kumar, who was named best chef: New York in the regional awards for his cooking at Semma downtown, paid tribute to his native country and current hometown. 'For one of the grandest cuisines in the world, Indian food has been overlooked for far too long and it has been incredibly powerful to reclaim that unapologetically with such regionality and emotion. And there's no better place to do it than New York.' Among the other regional chef winners was Nando Chang, who won the title best chef South for his outstanding Nikkei cuisine at Itamae AO in winners were named at Chicago's Lyric Theatre. The restaurant awards, which launched in 1991, have been based in Chicago since 2015. The city will host the awards through 2027. But its long tenure as host did not result in more than two awards for the night: Kumiko was named outstanding bar and Oriole's Noah Sandoval won best chef: Great Lakes. Ironically, before the awards set up shop in Chicago a decade ago, they were based in New York. Organizers thought that moving them away from the Big Apple would help spread out the national awards across the country. But this year, that didn't help; New York's hospitality community was unstoppable. Following is a list of all the winners. Outstanding Restaurant Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, CO Outstanding RestaurateursLee Hanson and Riad Nasr, Frenchette, Le Veau d'Or, and Le Rock, New York, NY Outstanding Chef presented by HiltonJungsik Yim, Jungsik, New York, NY Emerging Chef Phila Lorn, Mawn, Philadelphia, PA Best New RestaurantBûcheron, Minneapolis, MN Outstanding BakeryJinJu Patisserie, Portland, OR Outstanding Pastry Chef or BakerCat Cox, Country Bird Bakery, Tulsa, OK Outstanding Hospitality Atomix, New York, NY Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages ProgramCharleston, Baltimore, MD Outstanding BarKumiko, Chicago, IL Best New BarIdentidad Cocktail Bar, San Juan, PR Outstanding Professional in Beverage ServiceArjav Ezekiel, Birdie's, Austin, TX Outstanding Professional in Cocktail ServiceIgnacio 'Nacho' Jimenez, Superbueno, New York, NY Best Chef: CaliforniaJon Yao, Kato, Los Angeles, CA Best Chef: Great Lakes Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago, IL Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic Carlos Delgado, Causa and Amazonia, Washington, D.C. Best Chef: Midwest Karyn Tomlinson, Myriel, St. Paul, MN Best Chef: Mountain Salvador Alamilla, Amano, Caldwell, ID Best Chef: New York State|Vijay Kumar, Semma, New York, NY Best Chef: Northeast |Sky Haneul Kim, Gift Horse, Providence, RI Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific Timothy Wastell, Antica Terra, Amity, OR Best Chef: South Nando Chang, Itamae AO, Miami, FL Best Chef: Southeast Jake Howell, Peninsula, Nashville, TN Best Chef: Southwest Yotaka Martin, Lom Wong, Phoenix, AZ Best Chef: TexasThomas Bille, Belly of the Beast, Spring, TX This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Axios
5 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Colorado restaurant wins James Beard award
Boulder's beloved Frasca Food and Wine took home one of the culinary world's top prizes Monday, a James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant. Why it matters: The category is among the James Beard Foundation's highest honors, recognizing restaurants that deliver consistent excellence. Driving the news: The upscale Italian eatery, led by restaurateur Bobby Stuckey, triumphed against four other restaurants scattered across the country to earn its third James Beard award at the 35th annual ceremony held in Chicago. The previous two recognized the restaurant's outstanding service and wine program. What he's saying: Stuckey took the stage and shouted: "Our industry is frickin' beautiful." Like other winners, he emphasized the importance of immigrants to the restaurant world amid federal raids. "If you are new to this country and don't speak the language, the hospitality industry is here for you," he said from the podium. The big picture: Two restaurants, four chefs and two bar owners from Colorado were named James Beard finalists. The other finalists from Colorado who didn't win included: Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos, Poulette Bakeshop in Parker, for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright, Yacht Club in Denver for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service Josh Niernberg, Bin 707 Foodbar in Grand Junction for Outstanding Chef Alma Fonda Fina in Denver for Best New Restaurant Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton for Best Chef: Mountain region The intrigue: Salvador Alamilla, the chef behind Amano in Caldwell, Idaho, took home the medal for best chef in the mountain region, which includes Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Zoom in: First nominated in 2016, Stuckey and chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson opened Frasca in 2004. The Boulder restaurant has since collected a variety of national nods, including consecutive Michelin Stars in 2023 and 2024. The Frasca Hospitality Group operates several Colorado restaurants, including Pizzeria Alberico, which sits next door to Frasca, and Tavernetta and Sunday Vinyl in Denver.
Axios
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Boulder's Frasca wins James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant
Boulder's beloved dining room at Frasca Food and Wine was crowned a winner at the 2025 James Beard Awards, earning the Outstanding Restaurant honor at Monday's ceremony in Chicago. The big picture: Although the upscale Italian eatery has previously been recognized by the Beard Foundation, this is the Pearl Street restaurant's first time as a finalist in this category and pushes the city's culinary scene further into the national spotlight. Catch up quick: The Outstanding Restaurant category is among the James Beard Foundation's highest honors, recognizing restaurants that deliver consistent excellence. Flashback: The James Beard Awards announced their 2025 semifinalists in January, with more than a dozen Colorado chefs, bars and restaurants in the running. Hosea Rosenberg, of Boulder's Blackbelly, was acknowledged as a semifinalist in the Best Chef — Mountain (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming) category. Zoom out: First nominated in 2016, master sommelier Bobby Stuckey and chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson opened Frasca in 2004. It has since collected a variety of national nods, including James Beard Awards for Outstanding Wine Program and Outstanding Service, and consecutive Michelin Stars in 2023 and 2024. State of play: The Frasca Hospitality Group operates several Colorado restaurants, including Pizzeria Alberico, which sits next door to Frasca, and Tavernetta and Sunday Vinyl in Denver.
The Advertiser
26-05-2025
- General
- The Advertiser
Recycled hair? What happens to your off-cuts after a visit to the hairdresser
What happens to the hair the hairdresser cuts off your head? And why would it end up in any other place but the bin? Over the past 10 years, Sustainable Salons has collected more than 100,000kg of human and pet hair from salons across Australia and New Zealand to create sustainable products. "Hair hasn't always been a waste material," Sustainable Salons founder Paul Frasca said. "For example, some of the things we found in history books were that hair is really good in soil, but there was no data. It also says that hair is really good to put in building materials. And like, great, but there's no data, because these things were done 500 years ago." While many are familiar with people donating their ponytails for the creation of wigs - and Sustainable Salons has had more than 285,000 donated for just that - there are other options regular hair cuts can be used for. It all started with hair booms - large hair sausages, made out of the collected clippings encased in nylon - that are deployed to soak up oil spills in the ocean, or deployed in waterways to clean up oil for local councils. "We read a story about how hair was used to clean up an oil spill in America about 30 years ago. We're like, that's interesting, but we contacted them and they had no data, so we had to ask, 'Does it actually work?," Mr Frasca said. "So we started collecting amounts of hair, and we contacted UTS in Sydney, and we said, 'There is this idea about cleaning up oil spills, and we just want to investigate it a bit more.' And we had a student, Rebecca, who then took on the subject, and we started studying it. And funnily enough, it turned out hair is a great absorber of oil, so that's how it all started." From there, Sustainable Salons entered the world of gardening, where hair was also used to create a soil treatment called Soilz Alive. When hair breaks down, it delivers an organic and dynamic dose of keratin, which conditions and renews the soil. Sustainable Salons is also about to enter the construction industry, producing hair-based bricks, and also releasing a world-first technology. "We found out - and this took about four years of [research and development] is how to turn hair into graphite," Mr Frasca said. "Graphite can be a part of the conductor system for OLED displays, solar panels and batteries. "It's fantastic research that we did, and we're actually looking at doing the first product next year, maybe a battery or something that charges your phone." Hair is just one thing Sustainable Salons collects. The hairdressers and pet groomers that sign up for the program get six different recycling bins to collect plastics, metals such as aluminium foil and colour tubes, excess chemicals and old hair equipment such as hairdryers. Without this program, about 90 per cent of items used within hairdressers would not be recycled, as it is considered chemically contaminated. For all of these collection programs, it's not just a matter of disposing of them correctly, it's about creating circularity. So in the case of the excess chemicals, primarily hydrogen peroxide, it's processed to be turned into water and oxygen. And the old equipment is broken down into pieces, the e-waste is recycled, and the plastic parts, which are heat-resistant, are turned into things such as combs. "The plastics actually get complicated because they're heat resistant and they usually have layers on them, so they're not easy, and we've got to find different brokers for them," Mr Frasca said. "How it works in the recycling world, the way I best put it is, we're above ground miners and commodities change daily. So plastic could have a value to it, and the next day it's actually a cost. So you're trying to constantly balance out when is the right time to actually sell your materials." There are more than 1500 salon businesses part of the Sustainable Salons across Australia, including 36 in the Canberra region, which have helped divert more than 244,000kg of materials to landfill. One such company is Pura Holistic Hair, which has salons in Narrabundah and Gold Creek. Having worked previously in salons that had been part of the Sustainable Salon program, Pura Holistic Hair owner Blair Lewis knew that she wanted to implement it in her own hairdresser when she opened a few years ago. "Hairdressing has a huge carbon footprint and huge toxic load, as you can imagine," Ms Lewis said. "So from the chemicals from different services, whether it be colour, perming, straightening, sprays, all of those things, plus the things they're packaged in, and then the foils that we use on the hair. There are so many different things. "If you think about how much stuff we use in a space, and beyond, when clients are taking products home, we have the option to either make a huge impact, positively on the environment or not." But for Ms Lewis, Sustainable Salons is just the beginning. All of the products they use and sell are sourced from biodynamic farms, sold in amber glass bottles with aluminium lids that have been recycled from other products. They also have a worm farm on site where they compost their tea leaves that are offered to clients to take home, using any empty glass bottles leftover from the hair products used. "If we can think about it beyond, 'We can put it in these bins,' that's awesome," Ms Lewis said. "Sustainable Salons do amazing things, but also, how can we reduce going in there in the first place? So I think because we do have the ability to make a real positive change in the environment, I think it's actually super important." What happens to the hair the hairdresser cuts off your head? And why would it end up in any other place but the bin? Over the past 10 years, Sustainable Salons has collected more than 100,000kg of human and pet hair from salons across Australia and New Zealand to create sustainable products. "Hair hasn't always been a waste material," Sustainable Salons founder Paul Frasca said. "For example, some of the things we found in history books were that hair is really good in soil, but there was no data. It also says that hair is really good to put in building materials. And like, great, but there's no data, because these things were done 500 years ago." While many are familiar with people donating their ponytails for the creation of wigs - and Sustainable Salons has had more than 285,000 donated for just that - there are other options regular hair cuts can be used for. It all started with hair booms - large hair sausages, made out of the collected clippings encased in nylon - that are deployed to soak up oil spills in the ocean, or deployed in waterways to clean up oil for local councils. "We read a story about how hair was used to clean up an oil spill in America about 30 years ago. We're like, that's interesting, but we contacted them and they had no data, so we had to ask, 'Does it actually work?," Mr Frasca said. "So we started collecting amounts of hair, and we contacted UTS in Sydney, and we said, 'There is this idea about cleaning up oil spills, and we just want to investigate it a bit more.' And we had a student, Rebecca, who then took on the subject, and we started studying it. And funnily enough, it turned out hair is a great absorber of oil, so that's how it all started." From there, Sustainable Salons entered the world of gardening, where hair was also used to create a soil treatment called Soilz Alive. When hair breaks down, it delivers an organic and dynamic dose of keratin, which conditions and renews the soil. Sustainable Salons is also about to enter the construction industry, producing hair-based bricks, and also releasing a world-first technology. "We found out - and this took about four years of [research and development] is how to turn hair into graphite," Mr Frasca said. "Graphite can be a part of the conductor system for OLED displays, solar panels and batteries. "It's fantastic research that we did, and we're actually looking at doing the first product next year, maybe a battery or something that charges your phone." Hair is just one thing Sustainable Salons collects. The hairdressers and pet groomers that sign up for the program get six different recycling bins to collect plastics, metals such as aluminium foil and colour tubes, excess chemicals and old hair equipment such as hairdryers. Without this program, about 90 per cent of items used within hairdressers would not be recycled, as it is considered chemically contaminated. For all of these collection programs, it's not just a matter of disposing of them correctly, it's about creating circularity. So in the case of the excess chemicals, primarily hydrogen peroxide, it's processed to be turned into water and oxygen. And the old equipment is broken down into pieces, the e-waste is recycled, and the plastic parts, which are heat-resistant, are turned into things such as combs. "The plastics actually get complicated because they're heat resistant and they usually have layers on them, so they're not easy, and we've got to find different brokers for them," Mr Frasca said. "How it works in the recycling world, the way I best put it is, we're above ground miners and commodities change daily. So plastic could have a value to it, and the next day it's actually a cost. So you're trying to constantly balance out when is the right time to actually sell your materials." There are more than 1500 salon businesses part of the Sustainable Salons across Australia, including 36 in the Canberra region, which have helped divert more than 244,000kg of materials to landfill. One such company is Pura Holistic Hair, which has salons in Narrabundah and Gold Creek. Having worked previously in salons that had been part of the Sustainable Salon program, Pura Holistic Hair owner Blair Lewis knew that she wanted to implement it in her own hairdresser when she opened a few years ago. "Hairdressing has a huge carbon footprint and huge toxic load, as you can imagine," Ms Lewis said. "So from the chemicals from different services, whether it be colour, perming, straightening, sprays, all of those things, plus the things they're packaged in, and then the foils that we use on the hair. There are so many different things. "If you think about how much stuff we use in a space, and beyond, when clients are taking products home, we have the option to either make a huge impact, positively on the environment or not." But for Ms Lewis, Sustainable Salons is just the beginning. All of the products they use and sell are sourced from biodynamic farms, sold in amber glass bottles with aluminium lids that have been recycled from other products. They also have a worm farm on site where they compost their tea leaves that are offered to clients to take home, using any empty glass bottles leftover from the hair products used. "If we can think about it beyond, 'We can put it in these bins,' that's awesome," Ms Lewis said. "Sustainable Salons do amazing things, but also, how can we reduce going in there in the first place? So I think because we do have the ability to make a real positive change in the environment, I think it's actually super important." What happens to the hair the hairdresser cuts off your head? And why would it end up in any other place but the bin? Over the past 10 years, Sustainable Salons has collected more than 100,000kg of human and pet hair from salons across Australia and New Zealand to create sustainable products. "Hair hasn't always been a waste material," Sustainable Salons founder Paul Frasca said. "For example, some of the things we found in history books were that hair is really good in soil, but there was no data. It also says that hair is really good to put in building materials. And like, great, but there's no data, because these things were done 500 years ago." While many are familiar with people donating their ponytails for the creation of wigs - and Sustainable Salons has had more than 285,000 donated for just that - there are other options regular hair cuts can be used for. It all started with hair booms - large hair sausages, made out of the collected clippings encased in nylon - that are deployed to soak up oil spills in the ocean, or deployed in waterways to clean up oil for local councils. "We read a story about how hair was used to clean up an oil spill in America about 30 years ago. We're like, that's interesting, but we contacted them and they had no data, so we had to ask, 'Does it actually work?," Mr Frasca said. "So we started collecting amounts of hair, and we contacted UTS in Sydney, and we said, 'There is this idea about cleaning up oil spills, and we just want to investigate it a bit more.' And we had a student, Rebecca, who then took on the subject, and we started studying it. And funnily enough, it turned out hair is a great absorber of oil, so that's how it all started." From there, Sustainable Salons entered the world of gardening, where hair was also used to create a soil treatment called Soilz Alive. When hair breaks down, it delivers an organic and dynamic dose of keratin, which conditions and renews the soil. Sustainable Salons is also about to enter the construction industry, producing hair-based bricks, and also releasing a world-first technology. "We found out - and this took about four years of [research and development] is how to turn hair into graphite," Mr Frasca said. "Graphite can be a part of the conductor system for OLED displays, solar panels and batteries. "It's fantastic research that we did, and we're actually looking at doing the first product next year, maybe a battery or something that charges your phone." Hair is just one thing Sustainable Salons collects. The hairdressers and pet groomers that sign up for the program get six different recycling bins to collect plastics, metals such as aluminium foil and colour tubes, excess chemicals and old hair equipment such as hairdryers. Without this program, about 90 per cent of items used within hairdressers would not be recycled, as it is considered chemically contaminated. For all of these collection programs, it's not just a matter of disposing of them correctly, it's about creating circularity. So in the case of the excess chemicals, primarily hydrogen peroxide, it's processed to be turned into water and oxygen. And the old equipment is broken down into pieces, the e-waste is recycled, and the plastic parts, which are heat-resistant, are turned into things such as combs. "The plastics actually get complicated because they're heat resistant and they usually have layers on them, so they're not easy, and we've got to find different brokers for them," Mr Frasca said. "How it works in the recycling world, the way I best put it is, we're above ground miners and commodities change daily. So plastic could have a value to it, and the next day it's actually a cost. So you're trying to constantly balance out when is the right time to actually sell your materials." There are more than 1500 salon businesses part of the Sustainable Salons across Australia, including 36 in the Canberra region, which have helped divert more than 244,000kg of materials to landfill. One such company is Pura Holistic Hair, which has salons in Narrabundah and Gold Creek. Having worked previously in salons that had been part of the Sustainable Salon program, Pura Holistic Hair owner Blair Lewis knew that she wanted to implement it in her own hairdresser when she opened a few years ago. "Hairdressing has a huge carbon footprint and huge toxic load, as you can imagine," Ms Lewis said. "So from the chemicals from different services, whether it be colour, perming, straightening, sprays, all of those things, plus the things they're packaged in, and then the foils that we use on the hair. There are so many different things. "If you think about how much stuff we use in a space, and beyond, when clients are taking products home, we have the option to either make a huge impact, positively on the environment or not." But for Ms Lewis, Sustainable Salons is just the beginning. All of the products they use and sell are sourced from biodynamic farms, sold in amber glass bottles with aluminium lids that have been recycled from other products. They also have a worm farm on site where they compost their tea leaves that are offered to clients to take home, using any empty glass bottles leftover from the hair products used. "If we can think about it beyond, 'We can put it in these bins,' that's awesome," Ms Lewis said. "Sustainable Salons do amazing things, but also, how can we reduce going in there in the first place? So I think because we do have the ability to make a real positive change in the environment, I think it's actually super important." What happens to the hair the hairdresser cuts off your head? And why would it end up in any other place but the bin? Over the past 10 years, Sustainable Salons has collected more than 100,000kg of human and pet hair from salons across Australia and New Zealand to create sustainable products. "Hair hasn't always been a waste material," Sustainable Salons founder Paul Frasca said. "For example, some of the things we found in history books were that hair is really good in soil, but there was no data. It also says that hair is really good to put in building materials. And like, great, but there's no data, because these things were done 500 years ago." While many are familiar with people donating their ponytails for the creation of wigs - and Sustainable Salons has had more than 285,000 donated for just that - there are other options regular hair cuts can be used for. It all started with hair booms - large hair sausages, made out of the collected clippings encased in nylon - that are deployed to soak up oil spills in the ocean, or deployed in waterways to clean up oil for local councils. "We read a story about how hair was used to clean up an oil spill in America about 30 years ago. We're like, that's interesting, but we contacted them and they had no data, so we had to ask, 'Does it actually work?," Mr Frasca said. "So we started collecting amounts of hair, and we contacted UTS in Sydney, and we said, 'There is this idea about cleaning up oil spills, and we just want to investigate it a bit more.' And we had a student, Rebecca, who then took on the subject, and we started studying it. And funnily enough, it turned out hair is a great absorber of oil, so that's how it all started." From there, Sustainable Salons entered the world of gardening, where hair was also used to create a soil treatment called Soilz Alive. When hair breaks down, it delivers an organic and dynamic dose of keratin, which conditions and renews the soil. Sustainable Salons is also about to enter the construction industry, producing hair-based bricks, and also releasing a world-first technology. "We found out - and this took about four years of [research and development] is how to turn hair into graphite," Mr Frasca said. "Graphite can be a part of the conductor system for OLED displays, solar panels and batteries. "It's fantastic research that we did, and we're actually looking at doing the first product next year, maybe a battery or something that charges your phone." Hair is just one thing Sustainable Salons collects. The hairdressers and pet groomers that sign up for the program get six different recycling bins to collect plastics, metals such as aluminium foil and colour tubes, excess chemicals and old hair equipment such as hairdryers. Without this program, about 90 per cent of items used within hairdressers would not be recycled, as it is considered chemically contaminated. For all of these collection programs, it's not just a matter of disposing of them correctly, it's about creating circularity. So in the case of the excess chemicals, primarily hydrogen peroxide, it's processed to be turned into water and oxygen. And the old equipment is broken down into pieces, the e-waste is recycled, and the plastic parts, which are heat-resistant, are turned into things such as combs. "The plastics actually get complicated because they're heat resistant and they usually have layers on them, so they're not easy, and we've got to find different brokers for them," Mr Frasca said. "How it works in the recycling world, the way I best put it is, we're above ground miners and commodities change daily. So plastic could have a value to it, and the next day it's actually a cost. So you're trying to constantly balance out when is the right time to actually sell your materials." There are more than 1500 salon businesses part of the Sustainable Salons across Australia, including 36 in the Canberra region, which have helped divert more than 244,000kg of materials to landfill. One such company is Pura Holistic Hair, which has salons in Narrabundah and Gold Creek. Having worked previously in salons that had been part of the Sustainable Salon program, Pura Holistic Hair owner Blair Lewis knew that she wanted to implement it in her own hairdresser when she opened a few years ago. "Hairdressing has a huge carbon footprint and huge toxic load, as you can imagine," Ms Lewis said. "So from the chemicals from different services, whether it be colour, perming, straightening, sprays, all of those things, plus the things they're packaged in, and then the foils that we use on the hair. There are so many different things. "If you think about how much stuff we use in a space, and beyond, when clients are taking products home, we have the option to either make a huge impact, positively on the environment or not." But for Ms Lewis, Sustainable Salons is just the beginning. All of the products they use and sell are sourced from biodynamic farms, sold in amber glass bottles with aluminium lids that have been recycled from other products. They also have a worm farm on site where they compost their tea leaves that are offered to clients to take home, using any empty glass bottles leftover from the hair products used. "If we can think about it beyond, 'We can put it in these bins,' that's awesome," Ms Lewis said. "Sustainable Salons do amazing things, but also, how can we reduce going in there in the first place? So I think because we do have the ability to make a real positive change in the environment, I think it's actually super important."
