THE REFOIL LIFE CYCLE

At Refoil, we take a lifecycle approach to make sustainable decisions at every stage of our products’ life. We put care for the
environment at the heart of everything we do, from design, manufacture, and packaging right through to disposal.
Refoil is committed to make products mainly from recycled aluminium sources. By making our products from recycled aluminium we
reduce the need for natural resources, divert waste from landfll and save heaps of energy and water (up to 95%) compared to the
energy needed to mine, refne and smelt new aluminium.

THE LOOP

MANUFACTURING

In the manufacturing stage coils are rolled into sheets
according to requested thicknesses. Rolling increases the
strength of the aluminium and produces the foil’s two natural
nishes, bright and matte. Finally the coils are cut and
trimmed into Refoil’s customized sizes

Re-melting

The starting point of our products is not the ground, but the aluminium remelting facility. That’s where our collected scrap aluminium is remelted into coils. Any leftover residue on the aluminium will be processed in a furnace where the coating will be removed. The remelting process requires only 5% of the energy and water used to produce aluminum from ore.

Recycling

Once your “Refoil only” bin is full, empty it in your mixed recycling wheelie bin (generally provided by local council). The local authorities transport the content of this mixed recycling bin to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where the recyclables are sorted.

In the MRF the Refoil balls will be sorted from the other recyclables. The sorted Refoil balls are baled and send to a remelting facility for resource recovery purposes.

Product use

Colourists who care use Refoil as a colouring tool to highlight, weave and panel hair. Some colourists even use Refoil to enhance hair treatments by wrapping Refoil sheets around the client’s head. This technique captures heat and as a result makes the hair feel softer. Colourists who care always find new ways to use Refoil to suit their style.

Product disposal

Our friends at the recycling centre can’t process loose sheets of foil. They tear easily. Therefore it is important to crush your Refoil sheets into balls (Minimum the size of a tennis ball). The bigger the balls, the better! Dispose your Refoil balls in your salon’s “Refoil only” bin. Not the waste bin!

Remember to give your Refoil sheets a light rinse before crushing though. This will make it easier for the recyclers to process your Refoil balls. Any leftover residue on the Refoil balls will be processed in a furnace where the coating will be removed.

Extraction of aluminium

The process of making aluminium from scratch requires prodigious amounts of energy and water. Primary raw materials such as ore, bauxite and other minerals are extracted from the ground, refined and smelted into pure aluminium. This process releases high volumes of greenhouse gas emissions in the air, making it a large contributor to global warming.

At Refoil we believe it’s time the industry becomes less dependent on the extraction of aluminium. With a growing global population and a rising demand for aluminium it’s time to develop the industry in a sustainable way.

LANDFILL

If you dispose your used Refoil sheets in the waste bin they will end up in landfill. Aluminium doesn’t degrade easily. It actually takes up to 500 years before the aluminium fully disappears. So, it is always a bad idea to not recycle your Refoil sheets. Especially, because aluminium is the easiest metal to recycle. So, follow Refoil’s way to recycle and together we can make foil waste history!