An unlikely tool has emerged to help hundreds of volunteers soak up globules of bunker oil spilled from a cargo ship that hit the Bay Bridge earlier this month.
“The San Francisco Chronicle” reported that the volunteers are using mats of human hair, which naturally acts as a sponge to absorb oil from air and water.
Lisa Gautier, who runs a non-profit business (called Matter of Trust) supplied the clean-up effort with 1,000 hair mats which are as big as a doormat. After doing soaking up the oil with the hair, volunteers then add mushrooms, which absorb the oil over a 12-week period to turn the hair mats into non-toxic compost.
Gautier, who collects the hair from area salons before sending it to Georgia to be woven into mats, hopes the process will inspire natural solutions to contain man-made oil disasters (such as the Cosco Busan oil spill)
According to “The Chronicle”, she has been talking to a Chinese company about shipping more hair mats to San Francisco.
Lisa Gautier also said that this can completely revolutionize oil spill cleanup !
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