Scrummi Towels Prevent Massive Water Waste

Salons using Scrummi disposable towels have saved more than 20 million gallons of chemically contaminated water in the past year while avoiding the release of 6 million kilograms of CO² into the atmosphere. At the same time, they have stopped millions of microplastic fragments from being flushed into rivers and oceans. And all by ending the tedious process of in-salon laundering.

The stats, newly published by the eco-towel innovator, show that salons switching from traditional cotton towels (which are often reinforced with plastic to make them last longer and resist staining) to Scrummi are also saving thousands of dollars previously wasted on laundry.

James Alba, co-owner of B-Hive in New Jersey, is one of them. “We prioritize sustainability at B-Hive, so when we found Scrummi, which is a microfiber towel certified as compostable, we recognized it was another way to help reduce our impact on the environment,” he said. “But we are running a business, and it is equally important to us that using Scrummi also saved us time and money in laundry costs. We know the true cost of using traditional towels, so Scrummi has been a  huge win for us and the environment.”

During the reopening process, many salons switched to Scrummi as clients like the hygiene reassurance of single-use towels, but they are quickly finding their costs are down and their eco-credentials are way up.

“As an industry, we consider towels irreplaceable and harmless, but cotton is one of the most polluting and water-hungry crops in the world. And most salons aren’t using 100% cotton, which means the increasing use of plastic to make them last longer is releasing microplastics with every wash,” says Valorie Tate, founder of Sustain Beauty Co, the exclusive home of Scrummi in the US and Canada. “Scrummi is not just a viable alternative, it is the only alternative to protect our water supply.”

The cost of water and energy used in laundering a single cotton towel is 1.5 times the cost of producing a Scrummi towel, which is a microfiber towel in the world certified* as compostable. Scrummi also uses a fraction of the water – it takes just 35ml of water to create a Scrummi towel and 96% of that water is recycled after microbiological filtration. In comparison, cotton is mass-produced in hot climates using irrigation and pesticides, requiring record rates of water and chemicals to grow.

* In June 2020 Scrummi became the first and only salon and spa towel to achieve EN13432 composability certifications from TÜV Austria.