Last Update: December 31, 2022, 10:45 IST
Patrick Janssen, co-founder of the Dung Dung organization, shows a tile made from recycled human hair, which is used to absorb chemical pollutants in water, in Verme, Belgium. (Credits: Reuters)
Coiffers in Belgium are sweeping and clipping hair from their customers, and then handing it over to an NGO that recycles it to protect the environment.
Coiffers in Belgium are sweeping and clipping hair from their customers, and then handing it over to an NGO that recycles it to protect the environment.
The Hair Recycle Project feeds locks and hair into a machine that turns them into tangled sections that can be used to absorb oil and other hydrocarbons that pollute the environment, or made into bio-composite bags can go.
Project co-founder Patrick Janssen reported that 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of hair can absorb 7–8 liters (1.8–2.1 US gal) of oil and hydrocarbons, adding that mats should be placed in drains to absorb pollutants in the water. can be placed. It reaches a river.
“Our products are more ethical because they are manufactured locally … they are not imported from the other side of the planet,” he told Reuters. “They’re built here to deal with local problems.”
The project states on its website that hair has powerful properties: a single strand can support up to 10 million times its own weight, as well as absorb fats and hydrocarbons, it is water-soluble and strong due to its keratin fibres. is highly elastic.
Isabelle Volakidis, manager of the Heliod salon in Brussels, is one of dozens of hairdressers across the country who pay the project a small fee to collect their hair cuttings.
“What motivates me personally is that I get to throw this embarrassing hair in the bin nowadays when I know so much more could be done with it,” she said, as she combed and looked at her clients. cut his hair.
read all Latest Buzz News here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)