Oil Spill Cleanup Effort Could Use a Little “Hair of the Dog”
Bag of donated hair. Photo courtesy Matter of Trust
The BP/Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been raging out of control since April 20, the result of a pressure system blowout, which caused an explosion and the subsequent sinking of an oil-drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana. As offshore repair attempts meet with setbacks and the volunteer cleanup effort kicks into high gear, proprietors of several Florida hair salons and pet groomers’ establishments are working together to float a clever and unexpected idea: recycle leftover hair clippings from both human beings and dogs to scrub oil from contaminated beaches.
The movement is the brainchild of Matter of Trust, a non-profit organization formed in San Francisco in 1998 to bring together new ideas and like-minded people with an eye toward developing sustainable systems with renewable resources. Since 2000, they have been researching and developing programs that use the hair collected in salons across the country to create “mats” which are adsorbent - a property which allows them to collect, rather than soak up, oil from the environment - and therefore ideal for blocking the spread of and scrubbing up areas stained by petroleum. We all know that hair collects oil and grease… that’s why we shampoo! Matter of Trust is putting that occasionally frustrating property to good use.
Now at the Gulf Coast, people are stuffing booms. Hair and fur coming in from our thousands of member salons and groomers into recycled nylons coming in from all 50 states and around the world! Salons and beach lovers all over the Gulf Coast are organizing Boom making parties - They're calling them BOOM-B-QUE's. Photo courtesy Matter of Trust.
With the leaking oil well dumping an estimated 210,000 to 1,100,000 gallons of crude oil daily into the Gulf of Mexico, experts expect that within two months the spill will match and overshadow the total damage of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. The cleanup to counteract the effects of such a catastrophe will need all the help it can muster.
Even if you are unable to lend your time, you can still be a part of the relief effort! An estimated average of one pound of hair is collected and disposed of every day from salons and barbershops across the nation. Working together with these establishments, Matter of Trust creates the mats and “booms” (barriers created in a body of water to collect detritus and debris) from this discarded hair to send to volunteer organizations involved in the cleanup.
Convince your local human and canine grooming establishments to donate their hair refuse to the cause, or donate yourself!
