Recycling Human Hair to Clean Oil Spills _ UpcycleThis

Did you know that your hair or even your pet's fur can be used to soak up oil spills? Well, one non-profit is doing just that. They're collecting hair that would typically end up in a landfill and through a simple process making, well, hair mats that are being used to keep the planet clean. And you can help. How so? Stick around because that's what we're checking out in this week's episode. Why hair? What makes it good at cleaning up oil spills? And how can you help make a difference? And we'll talk to that one non-profit that's upcycling all of this into this. Throughout your life, you've definitely come across news reports of massive oil spills. Sea creatures covered in oil and the ocean waters covered in thin oil slicks. In fact, according to Statista, there were approximately 1,000 metric tons of oil lost into the environment from oil tanker spills alone in 2020. That's not even counting for the other ways in which the fossil fuel gets into the environment. Oil spills are most of the result of accidents, breakdown of equipment, natural disasters, acts of war, or illegal dumping. And as sad as it already sounds, these large spills are devastating to the environment, killing thousands of marine animals, destroying habitats, and having huge impacts on local fishing and tourist industries. And that's where you come in. Yes, you. Your hair. Your own hair from your scalp can actually help pick up oil from these spills. Want to hear more? This is Lisa Gauthier, who's made it her mission for more than 20 years to find interesting ways to turn waste into usable resources. You can turn waste into resources if you have a pure feedstock of a certain material that makes all the difference in the world. So that's what they set out to do. In 1998, Lisa co-founded Matter of Trust, an environmental nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco with her husband, Patrice Gauthier. The nonprofit implements transformational programs that promote renewable resources recycling, reuse, and repair. 11 years after Matter of Trust was founded, in 2019, Lisa encountered an oil spill in the Galapagos Islands that spilled 600 gallons of oil into its waters. Taking interest in this spill, she was inspired by a story she heard about Alabama salon owner and inventor Phil McCrory, who came up with the idea of using fiber to clean up oil spills while shampooing an oily head of hair. In 2000, she and Phil partnered together and began Matter of Trust's Clean Wave program, which felts fibers, like hair, into mats that soak up gas, oils, and other petroleum products. And it just sort of clicked for him that here he was shampooing an oily head of hair on the floor of his salon was all of this hair. And he's like, we shampoo because hair collects oil. And my garbage is just 99% hair. And we could take all of this and recycle it and do something. So now it makes sense, right? Those greasy hair days some of us have to deal with are because your hair is really good at, well, absorbing all of those oils and holding onto them until your next wash. So now, instead of these fibers landing in landfills, they are made into hair mats where they can have a second life. And it's not only human hair that gets felted into these mats. Fur from pet groomers and fleece from farmers are also accepted. So your furry best friend can make a change too. But how does it all work? Well, when oil comes in contact with a strand of hair, the oil clings to the surface through a process called adsorption. That's with a D. And a lot of oil can cling to the surface of hair. Researchers have found that each hair can hold three to nine times its weight in oil, which means one of these hair mats can remove a whole gallon of oil from water in just two minutes. Pretty cool, right? But how does hair become hair mat? Good question. Let's get into it. The first step is to collect donations. We'll go over how you can donate your own hair a little more later. But the hair and fur is received at one of about 30 donor felting sites around the world, where it is left alone and stored for at least a month. That just makes sure that we don't have any, you know, lice from the animals. We don't have any fleas. We don't get any ringworm from the alpaca and all that good stuff. And once all of that good stuff is gone, then long and short hair is sorted and separated. Any hair over four inches in length is put through a needle felting machine first. This creates a scrim, which is like a sort of fabric mesh. Then, in between two of these hair scrims, is filled with the shorter one to four inch pieces of hair, forming a sort of hair pillowcase. Then the edges are folded over to make them strong, and the whole thing is run through a needle punch machine, and a completed mat pops out. Once complete, the hair mats are shipped to individuals, government offices, or people in public works. The mats are then ready to be used to clean up oil spills. But that's not all they're good for. The mats are also used to keep storm drains clean, to collect oil spilled in auto shops, and a lot more. What happens when all that hair has three to nine times its weight in oil? Well, they've got to be properly disposed of. And the people or organizations who use these hair mats are the ones that are actually responsible for disposal. Hazmat pickup sites either send the hair to landfills, or they incinerate them for energy. Want to get involved? Here's how you can donate your own hair. It's a pretty easy process. First, a donor visits thehumsum.org and fills out the information required to donate. Then you'll receive a notification from the website on where you can send your hair. Then you're asked to separate short and long hair, free it of any debris, put it in an envelope, and mail it to the nearest donation felting site. And you can just ship it in an envelope or your own box. Not only can you donate your hair and your pet's fur, but you can join the CleanWave Global Hub Program, a satellite partnership that can be found around the world. The program allows you to set up your own hair mat making factory in your own location, and all the supplies and materials like the felting machine to each partner. They're seeking 300 satellite partners by 2030, which will help in reducing the carbon footprint that comes from people shipping fiber to their headquarters. It's pretty freaking cool. And there's even a chance to get paid. So check it out. Matter of Trust's CleanWave program has a goal to make 80 to 100,000 of their hair mats per year. And they hope to get the help from their community to gather the resources to reach that goal. And that community, which will hopefully soon include you, is already out there. Remember the 2010 Deep Horizon spill? You know, the largest oil spill in American history? Lisa and team were there. They weren't making hair mats, but they did initiate a massive mobilization to gather fibers. And they received over 750,000 pounds of hair to make hair booms, which is hair stuffed into nylon stockings, which were used to help clean up the spill. See? How awesome is that? It shows how the world can lend a helping hand. Even the Air Force is collaborating with the CleanWave program, exploring the use of renewable natural fibers for filtration. So you know it's legit. So that's about it. Hair, fur, and fleece can be donated and made into hair mats that pick up oil spills, collect litter and storm drains, filter runoff, and can even be used in garages. So if you want to get involved, as we mentioned earlier, just visit thehamsam.org for donation and volunteer information. Anybody can join Matter of Trust. This is really all about looking at the challenges that are out there and the solutions that might be, you know, right in front of our eyes. So that's basically what we're all about. We love hearing from people all over the world and also hearing what the solutions are coming ground up from all over the world and making sure that they're getting shared. Would you ever donate your hair or your pet's fur to keep our water clean? Have you ever participated in an oil spill cleanup? Do you do anything special with your trimmed hair? Let us know in the comments.