Greasy Hair?
The Matter of Trust nonprofit in San Francisco, California has been using hair to soak up oil for nearly twenty years, and after partnering with FeltCrafts, they have been making hair mats in order to soak up large amounts of oil from disaster areas. They collect the hair from donations from people and hair salons, like Pitch. Pitch is a hair salon in San Francisco that donates the shaved human hair for supplies instead of throwing it away.
Because hair is adsorbent, or able to hold onto something as film on the outside of its surface, it can soak up the oil particles without growing in size. Just one pound of hair can soak up a liter of oil in about one minute!
Matter of Trust feeds the donated animal and human hair through a felting machine, with layers added onto it during each run-through until it is deemed sturdy enough. They are currently using this experimental solution in small-scale issues like storm drains. The goal is to move onto bigger things soon and to create a recycling system instead of an easy cash crop. Their focus involves setting up other green hubs around the world to help cities introduce hair mats all around.
St. Francis High School
2130 W. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton, IL 60187
Phone (630) 668-5800
Fax (630) 668-5893
Phone (630) 668-5800
Fax (630) 668-5893
