Every Saturday, Northport High School senior Dora Fields picks up a 13-gallon garbage bag full of hair from a local salon. All in the name of environmental protection.
Fields, 17, recently started an initiative called Strands of Sustainability, which promotes the collection of hair scraps that are typically discarded at salons and barbershops. She then mails it to the San Francisco-based nonprofit Matter of Trust. The group uses donated hair strands to create “hair mats” that can be used to absorb petrochemicals derived from crude oil and natural gas, the organization said.
“This is the best idea ever,” said Jennifer DeNunzio, owner of Jackie Sean Salon in Northport, which is participating in Fields’ effort. “Hair ends up buried in the soil (as waste) anyway, so it’s better to put it to good use. I think it’s wonderful.”
Fields said she has been donating her hair to organizations like Locks of Love since she was 5 years old, but when she realized her hair wasn’t growing long enough to donate each year, she started looking for other uses. For example, Locks of Love requires a minimum hair length of 10 inches for donations.
“It didn’t feel right to me to get a haircut without donating it somewhere,” Fields said. “Then I learned about hair mats and started exploring the world of what happens when you throw away your hair. That’s how this idea was born.”
So far, Strands of Sustainability has attracted about 20 ambassadors from countries as far as Slovenia, and Fields visits local salons and barbershops to encourage owners to save and donate unwanted hair. I am calling on you to do so. After that, the ambassador plans to mail it to Matter of Trust on a regular basis.
Fields said she and the ambassadors have collected more than 1,000 inches of hair since the initiative began in March.
“The idea of using waste is very important to me because we’re just throwing away things that could be used to help the environment, and hair is just one example,” she says. spoke.
Fields’ environmental efforts were praised by Matter of Trust president Lisa Craig Gauthier, who pointed out that hair mats can hold up to five times their weight in oil.
“One of the reasons we love this program so much is that it is so empowering for young people,” Gauthier said. “I love seeing students show people how local fiber can help with local solutions.”
For more information on Strands of Sustainability, visit bit.ly/4f3KBc1.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher who has worked at Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team that was a 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist for its investigative reporting on LIRR platform safety issues.
