• Belgium’s coiffeur’s bag and recycle their customers’ hair to safeguard the environment.
• Hair can absorb oil and other hydrocarbons or be converted into bio-composite bags.
• The mats may be placed in drains to soak up pollutants before it reaches a river.

Belgium’s coiffeur’s bag and recycle their customers’ hair to save the environment.

The Human Hair Recycle project transforms locks and braids into squares that can absorb oil and other hydrocarbons or be converted into bio-composite bags.

1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of hair can absorb 7-8 liters (1.8-2.1 U.S. gallons) of oil and hydrocarbons, according to project co-founder Patrick Janssen. The mats may be placed in drains to soak up pollutants before it reaches a river.

He told the media, “Our products are all the more ethical as they are manufactured locally … they are not imported from the other side of the planet,” added, “They are made here to deal with local problems.”

One strand of hair can hold 10 million times its weight and is water-soluble, elastic, and absorbs fat and hydrocarbons, according to the project’s website.

Isabelle Voulkidis, manager of the Helyode salon in Brussels, pays a nominal charge to donate her hair clippings.

“What motivates me, personally, is that I find it a shame hair is nowadays just thrown in the bin when I know that so much could be done with it,” she said as she combed and cut a customer’s hair.

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