The problem: we treat hair like garbage, not a resource

By AnthroEvolve Coop

Every time someone gets a trim, a small ecosystem’s worth of hair hits the floor.

In the U.S. and Canada alone, salons throw out about 31.5 tons of hair every single day. Zoom out and you get even wilder:

• North American salons generate about 63,000 pounds of hair clippings every day.

• Europe is estimated to toss 72,000 tons of human hair into landfills or drains each year.

• One European hair-recycling startup estimates roughly 2.2 billion kilograms of human hair becomes waste globally every year.

Nearly all of that ends up in landfills or incinerators, where it releases methane and other greenhouse gases as it breaks down.

And that’s absurd, because hair is incredibly useful. The floor sweepings from your haircut can:

• Feed compost as a slow-release nitrogen source

• Help clean up oil spills

• Replace plastics and chemicals in new biomaterials

The question isn’t “Can we use salon hair?” It’s “Why are we still treating it like trash?”

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Is human hair compostable?

Short answer:
✅ Yes, human hair is compostable.
⚠️ But chemically treated hair should be handled with more caution.

The science bit

Hair is mostly keratin, a protein rich in nitrogen. Composting experts treat it as a “green” ingredient, like grass clippings, because of its high nitrogen content. Extension programs and composting guides note that human (and animal) hair can go into compost or be used as mulch, though it breaks down slowly.

Modern studies have even shown that salon hair mixed with compost makes a good plant nutrient source.

So from a purely biological standpoint: yes, hair will decompose and feed soil life.

Where it gets tricky: bleached & dyed hair

Most sustainability and composting educators land here:

• Untreated hair (no chemical dyes, perms, straighteners, heavy product buildup)
  → Generally considered safe to compost in home systems or send to community compost.

• Bleached, heavily dyed, permed, or chemically straightened hair
  → Often recommended to keep out of home or food-garden compost, because those treatments can leave synthetic chemicals and metals in the hair shaft that may leach into the pile.

Some municipal compost programs do accept dyed hair in small quantities, and a few explicitly say it’s fine. But for a “do no harm” approach, especially in gardens growing food, many zero-waste guides advise avoiding clearly chemically treated hair in your compost.

So a simple working rule:

Barber-shop style clippings (mostly natural hair) = great compost feedstock.
High-chemical salon lightening & vivid color = better sent to specialized recycling than to your tomato patch.

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Why barbers are composting superheroes

Most barber shops:

• Do a lot of dry cuts

• Use little or no bleach/lightener

• Rarely do full-head vivid coloring

• Produce short, untreated hair clippings that break down faster

That makes them ideal partners for:

• Local community compost sites

• School gardens and urban farms

• Hair-to-compost or hair-to-oil-boom programs

One eco-salon guide notes that human hair is compostable and can be sent to composting facilities instead of landfill, especially when it’s not full of chemical treatments.

If you’re a barber, you’re sitting on a goldmine of useful “waste.”

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Hair vs oil spills: the wildly cool part

Now for the superhero move:
Hair doesn’t just compost. It also soaks up oil like a champ.

Why hair works on oil

Hair is:

• Hydrophobic (repels water)

• Lipophilic (loves oil)

Lab studies show human hair works as an effective, low-cost biosorbent for oil in water. It can absorb several times its weight in oil while letting water pass through.

Nonprofits and recycling programs turn donated hair into:

• Hair mats (felt pads)

• Hair booms (stocking-like tubes stuffed with hair)

These get deployed to:

• Surround and contain oil slicks

• Line storm drains and harbors

• Catch leaks in industrial settings

For example:

• Matter of Trust’s Clean Wave program in San Francisco collects hair, fur, wool and fleece to make mats and booms used in oil spills, storm drains and seagrass restoration projects.

• In 2023, communities in the Philippines collected sacks of human hair to help respond to a serious coastal oil spill, tapping hair’s ability to trap oil.

• Programs like Green Circle Salons and Sustainable Salons use salon hair to create oil-absorbing booms for spills at sea and in waterways, and even for industrial leaks.

Some of these hair booms can later be commercially composted after bacteria break down the captured oil, avoiding hazardous disposal routes.

So the stuff currently swept into black trash bags could literally be on the front lines of marine protection.

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How much hair could we actually keep out of landfills?

Let’s put some rough numbers on it:

• U.S. and Canadian salons toss out 31.5 tons of hair every day.

• Green Circle Salons estimates about 63,000 pounds of hair are thrown away daily in North America alone.

• Green Salon Collective says 6,700 tonnes of hair waste from salons are discarded each year in their region, and 98% of it currently goes to landfill.

• Across Europe, one estimate suggests 72,000 tons of hair waste a year ends up in landfills or drains.

• Globally, companies like CLIC RECYCLE estimate around 2.2 billion kilograms of human hair become waste annually.

If even half of that were diverted into compost, oil-spill tools, soil restoration, or biomaterials, we’d be talking about:

• Tens of thousands of tons of organics not rotting in landfills

• Significant methane emissions avoided

• A steady stream of material for regenerative projects

All from something we literally pay to have cut off.

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Who actually recycles hair today?

Here are some of the key players and programs (great resources to link in your blog):

1. Matter of Trust – Clean Wave (global)

• What they do: Turn donated hair, fur, wool, and fleece into mats and booms for oil spill response, storm drains, and soil/seagrass restoration.

• Who can donate: Salons, barbers, groomers, farms, and individuals.

• Where: Based in the U.S. but accepts international shipments (check their current guidelines).

2. Green Circle Salons (U.S. & Canada)

• What they do: Certified B Corp that helps salons recycle up to 95% of beauty waste, including hair, metals, color, and PPE.

• Hair uses: Hair booms for oil spills, compost, and even specialty bioplastics and products like combs and recycling bins.

3. Green Salon Collective (UK & Ireland)

• What they do: Collect and recycle salon hair, metals, chemicals, PPE and more.

• Hair uses: Over ten different pathways, including compost, hair booms, felt, rope, garden products and art.

• Also the source for that 6,700-tonne hair waste / 98% to landfill estimate.

4. Sustainable Salons (Australia & New Zealand)

• What they do: Resource recovery program for salons across ANZ aiming for zero waste.

• Hair uses: Hair booms for marine and industrial oil spills, plus other circular projects; they even support pet-fur recovery programs for oil-spill booms.

• What they do: Collect salon hair waste in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and beyond, turning it into nature-based solutions that help clean soil and water, and replace plastics and agrochemicals.

5. CLIC RECYCLE & new European initiatives

• What they do: Collect salon hair waste in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and beyond, turning it into nature-based solutions that help clean soil and water, and replace plastics and agrochemicals.News → Sustainability Directory+4ClicRecycle+4cinea.ec.europa.eu+4

6. TerraCycle & SalonCycle (paid options)

• TerraCycle itself runs brand-funded free programs mainly for beauty packaging, not hair.TerraCycle+1

But with SalonCentric they created SalonCycle, a zero-waste box system where salons can pay to send in mixed waste. Some boxes explicitly accept human hair (for composting) and synthetic hair (with color residues turned into energy under regulations).

So yes, TerraCycle-adjacent hair recycling exists, but it’s typically a paid, salon-scale solution.

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What salon owners can do this year

If you run a salon or barber shop and want your hair to do more than sit in a landfill, here’s a doable path:

1. Segregate hair from other waste

   • Put a dedicated “hair only” bin at each cutting station.

   • Keep it free of foils, tissues, plastic, and heavy product blobs as much as possible.

2. Separate untreated from heavily treated hair (if you can)

   • Barber-style cuts and trims on mostly natural hair = best candidates for compost or hair-for-oil-booms programs.

   • Bleach/vivid colour clippings can go to specialized recyclers (e.g., Green Circle, Green Salon Collective, SalonCycle) rather than home compost.

3. Partner with a hair-recycling organization

   • In North America: explore Green Circle Salons or TerraCycle’s SalonCycle boxes.

   • In UK/Ireland: look at Green Salon Collective.

   • In ANZ: Sustainable Salons.

   • Globally: Matter of Trust accepts hair for oil-spill mats and booms.

4. Offer “hair to-go” for compost-friendly clients

   • If a client has untreated hair and wants to compost at home, send their clippings in a paper bag with a little info card.

5. Tell the story

   • Put a sign at the mirror:

     “Your hair today is headed to [compost / oil-spill booms / soil restoration], not landfill.”

   • Share before/after stats: “This salon diverts X pounds of hair from landfill each month.”

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What everyday clients can do

You don’t have to own the salon to shift the system. You can:

• Ask: “Do you recycle hair clippings here?”

• If they don’t, share links to programs like Matter of Trust, Green Circle Salons, Green Salon Collective, Sustainable Salons, or CLIC RECYCLE.

• If your hair isn’t heavily chemically treated, ask:

  “Would you mind putting my hair in a separate bag? I’d love to compost it or donate it.”

• Choose salons that talk openly about waste diversion, composting, and recycling as part of their values.

Every time you ask, you’re quietly voting for a world where your haircut helps oceans and soils instead of stuffing landfills.

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The big picture

Human hair is:

• A high-nitrogen, compostable resource

• A powerful tool for soaking up oil

• A feedstock for new biomaterials that replace plastic and chemicals

Yet right now, almost all salon hair is still treated like trash.

If barber shops, salons, and clients start seeing hair clippings as tiny climate tools, we can:

• Cut methane emissions from landfills

• Support community compost and soil health

• Strengthen grassroots responses to oil spills

• Spark whole new circular industries around a “waste” we already create every day

That’s the kind of quiet, everyday systems-shift that adds up fast.

Sources & Further Reading

Green Circle Salons – Hair waste & beauty waste stats
Overview of salon waste streams and the estimate that salons in North America generate about 63,000 pounds of hair waste per day, along with data on broader beauty-industry waste. Waste360+4Green Circle Salons+4Forbes+4

Green Salon Collective – Hair waste in the UK & recycling pathways
Communications and press pieces reporting that 6,700 tonnes of human hair waste are produced annually in UK hairdressing, with about 98% currently going to landfill, plus descriptions of turning hair into booms, mats, mycelium materials and fertilisers. Salon Gold+4Green Salon Collective+4Blue Patch+4

Matter of Trust – Hair mats / Hair Matters (formerly Clean Wave)
Program info on accepting donated human and animal hair to create mats and booms for oil-spill response and storm drains, including details on how to donate hair, how mats are used, and partnerships with cities and manufacturers. Matter of Trust+2Matter of Trust+2

Sustainable Salons – Hair booms & oil-spill applications
Articles explaining how Sustainable Salons turns salon and pet hair into oil-absorbing booms, including notes on commercial composting of used booms and the wider “human hair as an untapped resource” framing. Sustainable Salons+2Sustainable Salons+2

Zheljazkov, V.D. (2008). “Human Hair as a Nutrient Source for Horticultural Crops.” HortTechnology.
Research showing that human hair, especially from barbershops, can be combined with compost and used as a slow-release nitrogen source for container-grown crops. ASHS+2Matter of Trust+2

Insteading – “Can I Compost Hair? A Comprehensive Guide” (2023)
Practical guidance on composting human and animal hair, emphasizing hair as a nitrogen-rich “green” input and advising caution with heavily bleached or chemically treated hair in home compost. Insteading

Ifelebuegu, A.O. (2015). “Liquid-phase sorption characteristics of human hair as a low-cost oil spill sorbent.”
Study demonstrating that human hair can serve as an effective biosorbent for oil in water, supporting the science behind hair mats and booms used in spills. Matter of Trust+4ScienceDirect+4jeta.segi.edu.my+4

CLIC RECYCLE – Hair waste circular solutions
CLIC RECYCLE describes transforming 2.2 million kilograms of human hair waste into biomaterials for soil and water restoration and nature-based solutions, as well as their partnerships and EU-supported projects. Cadena SER+5ClicRecycle+5cinea.ec.europa.eu+5

ScienceDaily – “Human Hair Combined With Compost Is Good Fertilizer for Plants”
Popular summary of research on hair mixed with compost as a fertiliser source, reinforcing the compost-and-hair connection for horticulture. ScienceDaily

Waste & salon-sustainability features (IBW Aveda blog, BeautyMatter, etc.)
Articles highlighting that the beauty industry generates hundreds of thousands of pounds of waste per day, including hair, chemicals, and packaging, and profiling programs like Green Circle Salons that divert and recycle this waste. Waste360+3craftandtheoryhair.com+3BeautyMatter+3

Blue Patch / industry blogs on cutting down salon waste
Pieces discussing practical steps for salons to partner with Green Salon Collective and others, and reiterating the 6,700-tonne hair-waste figure and landfill statistics. Salon Gold+3Blue Patch+3EsteticaMagazine.com+3

General composting & sustainability blogs / guides
Various composting guides and sustainability blogs that reinforce key ideas: hair as a slow-decomposing, nitrogen-heavy material, the need to keep synthetic or heavily treated hair out of home compost, and the value of hair in circular systems. Jo Hearts Hair+3ResearchGate+3Facebook+3