Dr. Karen Bell

Keep Liberty Beautiful

For more than 20 years, Ricky Nguyen has been serving the Hinesville community through the beauty industry. What began with a salon across from Bradwell Institute eventually led Ricky to open Creative Nails Concepts in the Food Lion Plaza at 2365 Highway 196 in Hinesville.

Now, Ricky and his team are adding something new to their salon - an opportunity for the community to make a positive difference beyond manicures, pedicures, and creative nail designs. Creative Nails Concepts is partnering with Keep Liberty Beautiful (KLB) and TerraCycle to provide a nail polish recycling collection box, encouraging residents and local nail salons to recycle used nail polish bottles instead of throwing them away. This shows how community involvement can create meaningful change.

“I decided to partner with Keep Liberty Beautiful so I can help the community the best I can,” Ricky said.

The partnership is part of KLB’s ongoing effort to find creative ways to reduce waste and make recycling more accessible to Liberty County residents and businesses. “I think it’s important for nail salons to help reduce waste because salons use a lot of disposable products,” Ricky said. “Reducing waste helps protect the environment, keeps the salon cleaner, and can even save money.”

Partnerships with local businesses are essential to making environmental stewardship a community- wide effort. Recycling works best when we make it convenient and when we have businesses willing to be part of the solution. Ricky and the Creative Nails Concepts team are showing that environmental responsibility can be incorporated into a small business without taking away from what makes that business successful.

Every collection box represents an opportunity for the community to keep materials out of the landfill and to remind everyone that our everyday choices matter. Through the TerraCycle nail polish recycling program, customers and nail salons can bring empty nail polish bottles to the collection box at Creative Nails Concepts, inviting everyone to be part of this environmental effort.

Creative Nails Concepts is also a place where creativity and community come together. Ricky has seven nail technicians on his team, each bringing individual talents, personalities, and creativity to the salon. The staff provides a variety of services, including manicures, pedicures, lashes, and waxing.

“Each of my technicians is very unique and creative in their own way,” Ricky said. “We enjoy each other’s company. We’re like a little family,” he said. One of those team members is Chanel, a nail technician who has worked in the beauty industry for more than nine years. She enjoys providing full sets of acrylic nails and appreciates the customers and coworkers who make the salon a welcoming place to work.

For Chanel, participating in the recycling program is another way to give back. “It means knowing that we are helping the environment and that we are giving back to the community,” she said.

As Ricky looks toward the future, he hopes to continue growing Creative Nails Concepts and making it a successful business. He is also interested in supporting additional community and environmental projects.

KLB appreciates businesses like Creative Nails Concepts that are willing to take an extra step to help protect Liberty County.

Community partnerships are what make programs like this possible. We appreciate Ricky Nguyen and his staff for opening their doors to recycling and helping us spread the message that protecting our community is everyone’s responsibility.

For those who have never visited Creative Nails Concepts, Ricky has a simple invitation: “Come check out and experience the unique creativity we offer in our salon.”

Creative Nails Concepts is located at 2365 Highway 196 in Hinesville, in the Food Lion Plaza. The salon is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed on Sunday.

For more information about the nail polish recycling program and other recycling opportunities through Keep Liberty Beautiful, visit www.keeplibertybeautiful. org, call (912) 880-4888, or stop by Creative Nails Concepts during business hours to ask how you can participate and support local environmental efforts.

Together, local businesses and residents can turn small changes into a cleaner, greener Liberty County, one nail polish bottle at a time!