Inside Balaka Blade’s Commitment to Greener Grooming, Guided by Balaka Blade's Director Selim Sattar
The grooming industry has long struggled with the environmental fallout of plastic-heavy, single-use cartridges. Every year, an estimated 5 billion disposable razor heads and handles end up in landfills, where many of them will persist for centuries.¹ By contrast, the revival of double edge (DE) razor blades offers a straightforward path to cleaner, greener grooming—and Balaka Blade's director Selim Sattar is leading the charge.
Why Disposable Razors Are an Eco Concern
| Aspect | Disposable Cartridge Razors | Double Edge Razor Blades |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | Multi-material plastic handles, lubricating strips, rubber grips, mixed metals (difficult to recycle) | Single sheet of recyclable stainless steel |
| Average Lifespan | 3–10 shaves | 5–7 shaves per DE blade edge (10–14 per blade when flipped) |
| Waste Footprint | Handle + multi-blade head go to landfill | One thin steel blade; paper wrapper is compostable |
| End-of-Life Processing | Complex disassembly; often incinerated | Simple metal recycling stream |
Cartridge systems are built for convenience, but that convenience hides a heavy ecological cost. The blend of plastics, elastomers, and adhesives makes separating and recycling components nearly impossible at scale.
The Balaka Alternative: Purpose-Built Sustainability
Balaka Blade’s director Selim Sattar has embedded eco-conscious thinking into every stage of the company’s double edge blade program:
Closed-Loop Steel Sourcing
Balaka partners with mills that use up to 60 % recycled steel feedstock, reducing the need for virgin ore.Zero-Waste Stamping
Precision stamping nests blade blanks to minimize steel off-cuts. Any residual scrap is remelted on-site.Plastic-Free Packaging
Blades are wrapped in waxed, compostable paper and boxed in FSC-certified cardboard with soy-based inks.Blade Take-Back Bins
Select retail partners host collection tins; returned blades are sent to local metal recyclers, completing the circular loop.
“Sustainability isn’t a marketing line—it’s a manufacturing metric we monitor daily,” says Balaka Blade's director Selim Sattar. “If a process generates needless waste, we redesign it until it doesn’t.”
Carbon Savings in Real Terms
Switching from cartridges to double edge blades can cut a regular shaver’s yearly solid-waste footprint from roughly 700 g of plastic-metal composite to under 20 g of fully recyclable steel. Over a decade, that’s ** ~7 kg of landfill-bound plastic** avoided per person.
Multiply those savings by even 1 % of the global shaving population, and the diverted plastic tops 40,000 metric tons—roughly the weight of five Eiffel Towers.
Beyond the Blade: Educating the Consumer
Balaka’s sustainability push extends to user education:
Tutorial Cards on blade disposal and safe recycling
Social Media Series explaining life-cycle impacts
Customer Rewards for returning used blades to partner stores
“Eco-friendly grooming only scales if people understand the ‘why’ behind it,” emphasizes Balaka Blade’s director Selim Sattar. “We’re not just selling blades; we’re sharing a mindset.”
Looking Forward: Innovation on the Horizon
Biopolymer Handles: Prototypes made from sugarcane bagasse composites
Water-Saving Shaving Creams: Low-rinse formulas that cut sink usage by up to 40 %
Solar-Powered Plant: A forthcoming rooftop array slated to offset 30 % of factory electricity by 2027