Earlier this month I reported on how you could donate your hair or your pet’s fur to the non-profit Matter of Trust to help with the BP oil spill cleanup. Since the April 20th spill, Matter of Trust has collected over 400,000 pounds of hair and fur to turn into oil absorbing hair booms. But now BP says they’re not going to use the donated hair booms in their cleanup efforts.
BP spokesman Mark Salt told TakePart that although they appreciate the thought and the effort, the company is happy with the booms they are using and don’t need to seek other alternatives. He also claims that testing has shown that “too much water as a percentage of total liquid is collected” in the volunteer hair booms and they “sink within minutes.”
Another company that makes hair woven mats, that absorb oil in similar way that Matter of Trust’s booms do, is Ottimat. Although the Ottimats have been approved for use in oil spill cleanup by NASA, the E.P.A., and Unified Command (the federal government’s joint response team), BP has yet to contact the company. For now it appears that BP is content to keep using toxic methods of cleanup despite the E.P.A.’s demands that it cease its use of the chemical product Corexit, an oil dispersant.
Hair that has been collected by Matter of Trust will not go unused. The non-profit says that if BP does not want its hair booms then they will distribute them to municipalities for local cleanup. As the oil washes up on shores along the Louisiana coast I’m sure the small towns there will appreciate whatever help they can get.
Image via Matter of Trust
