About the company: City Cut Hair & Beauty Salon (City Cut) was set up in 1989. It provides professional hair styling services as well as beauty services such as manicures, facials and eyebrow shaping. City Cut won the Emerald Award at the HSBC Living Business Awards 2006.

So what's the challenge? According to Mr Wilson Leung, Shop Manager of City Cut, "The water and electricity costs together made up about 15% of our monthly operational cost. In the long run, as an effective way to expand our business and reduce the impact of raised utility costs to the company's normal operation, we have to optimise the use of relevant natural resources."

This was their solution: Since 2001, City Cut has implemented a series of measures to manage and increase efficiency in using water and electricity. The company has replaced its traditional lighting system of halogen lamps and spot lights with energy-saving light bulbs and fluorescent tubes. In addition, regular cleaning and maintenance of the air conditioning system ensures that the equipment operates at its optimal level. City Cut has also taken different initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of its daily operations by simply modifying daily practices such as segregating towels with different degrees of staining for the laundry, thereby reducing the amount of water being used. City Cut employees are also taught in their daily briefing how to protect the environment. They are advised to prepare hair treatment chemicals accurately in order to reduce the amount of water used for cleaning containers and to decrease the amount of polluted water being discharged. Furthermore, City Cut offers incentives to staff who comply with the company's environmental rules.

Who gained from the project? After using more efficient lighting systems, City Cut has saved 50% of its electricity bill each month. City Cut invested around HK$28,000 to install the new lighting systems, but the repayment period was only about 3 months. In addition, the environmental training of staff has brought a 20% reduction in water consumption. "Raising the environmental awareness amongst our staff is not only meant to cut down on the utilities bills, but more importantly to convey the message of behaving environmentally towards our next generation, so they might adopt an environmental lifestyle," Leung said.

Looking back. City Cut has substantially reduced the consumption of natural resources by using environmentally respectful hairstyling products and equipment, and by taking steps to conserve energy and water. In addition, the company has also integrated conservation elements into daily business operations to effectively nurture an environmentally conscious corporate culture.