The curious hair-filled implements helping with oil spills in Peru

The Peruvian government has declared an environmental emergency after 6,000 barrels of crude oil spilled off the coast of Lima. Citizens are now helping beach clean-up efforts in an ingenious, albeit strange way.

If you weren’t already donating hair to help oil clean-up initiatives, you need to get with the times.

A volcanic eruption in Tonga this January has resulted in Peru’s ‘worst ecological disaster’ of recent years. The force of the natural phenomenon caused a tanker to rupture 10,000km off the coast of Lima, and 6,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the ocean.

The government has since declared an environmental emergency after announcing that 21 beaches along the Pacific coast are badly contaminated. Clean-up services are said to be at full capacity, and President Pedro Castillo is calling out to citizens with a seriously unusual request.

So, bear with us… but he wants local change-makers to assist by donating their hair. Volunteers, put your spades and buckets down and get to the barbers!

This collected hair is apparently used to fill large sausage-shaped implements which are actively soaking up oil as we speak. Placed in shallow water, much like sandbags are in floods, this blend of human hair and fur is able to absorb (per kilogram) eight kilograms of oil.

Organised by environmental outfits on social media, hundreds of Peruvians are reported to be queuing up at hairdressers and barbers to scoop up donor hair. Meanwhile, collection points are popping up all across the city of Lima.

Previously, these sausage-shaped nets were filled with synthetic sponges that weren’t very sustainable. In recent years though, hair has been found to be an environmentally friendly alternative that does the job just as well.

‘[The oil spill] is very regrettable, but little by little we are all coming together, all Peruvians are supporting this way,’ says Rebeca Guitierrez, a 26 year-old hair donor. ‘We all want to lend a hand.’

This innovative (and granted, creepy) concept builds on our current utilisation of natural resources in global clean-up efforts. We’re already using mushrooms, for example, to help address oil spills in the Amazon, remove boat fuel pollution in Denmark, and detoxify rivers of harmful metal compounds.

Is anyone else now wondering what other elements of a full English breakfast could come to our aid? Just me then… fair enough.