Since opening in 2009, Green Salon & Day Spa has never sent a strand of hair to the landfill, according to co-owner Heidi Crow.
Instead, it mails discarded hair to donated warehouse space around the country, where a non-profit organization called Matter of Trust stuffs the hair into used nylons to create “booms,” which are used to soak up and contain oil spills.
The hair-boom technique received significant attention during the BP Gulf disaster, but Matter of Trust says the need for donations is constant due to smaller, less publicized spills happening all the time.
According to Matter of Trust, after hair is saturated with oil, it can be mixed 9:1 with green-waste, composted over two years, and fed to worms. The bacteria in the compost and the worms’ digestive systems break down the oil, and the worms’ waste can then be used as fertilizer.
If Matter of Trust is ever lacking warehouse space, Green Salon gladly sweeps the hair into bags for local gardeners, believing, like Urbanna, that hair has a useful role in the garden.
Both salons encourage other shops to start recycling their discarded hair, either as compost or for oil clean-up, believing strongly that there is no reason hair should go to the landfill.
