Michigan salons sending hair clippings to help with Gulf oil spill cleanup

Source: Michigan Live

wenty Kalamazoo-area hair salons are collecting hair they trim from customers to be fashioned into products that will help contain and clean up the Gulf Coast oil spill.

The hair is used to fill sausage-shaped nylon tubes called booms that are used to hold the oil in designated areas. And hair — both human and animal trimmings — are fashioned into hairmats that are capable of soaking up five quarts of oil at a time, reusable for up to 100 applications.

Experts say hair is a natural oil collector, daily absorbing excess oil produced by the scalp. The average hair salon can collect up to a pound of hair trimmings a day, while pet groomers produce up to five pounds.

Technology experts say hair used to collect or contain the oil spill then can be recycled in a composting process where bacteria and worms break down the oil and create a rich, natural fertilizer.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/05/southwest_michigan_salons_send.html

They put them in big barrels. :)
Good for my local Fantastic Sams!

doing things like this- all sorts of businesses- in all sorts of ways.