Hairy Donations Update

The following is quoted (with minimal edits) from an email update to contributors
from Lisa Gautier, Board of Directors President and Co-Founder of Matter of Trust.

Thank you! No more for now, please.

As you know, the Gulf spill has been capped and the mysterious oil is staying mostly offshore (except for where BP is present). The theories are that the oil is hard to find because some evaporated, and much of it sank as a result of the Corexit (dispersant) that was used.

Oil based synthetic boom is now being sold in hardware stores in the Gulf, and the Coast Guard worked with us to help with the awareness for pick up of oiled materials (including hair, fur, fleece & feather boom).  When we give out a boom, we are also providing this 1-866-448-5816 number which we are told is good for pick up within the entire Gulf region.

When we say fleece, we are referring to waste fleece - not the fine fleece fibers which are a commodity.  We have stuffed about 1/10th of the donated fiber (hair, fur, fleece & feathers) thanks to hundreds of volunteers!  We are consolidating the 19 generously & temporarily donated warehouses because it has now been over 3 months.  That's an unusually long spill and the continued press and word of mouth brought in over 100,000 boxes, bags, truckloads of your donations!

We've been getting lots of emails from generous salons and groomers and farmers wanting to send more and we just can't take any until we have the room.

*An email update is expected when more room for donations is available. Also, more donations can be accepted after a completed cycle of donations is deployed.

There have been 2 more large oil spills in the US in the past week.  And anyone who needs  donated boom both in Michigan (Kalamazoo - we love saying that!) and the Mud Lake spill (2nd Gulf spill) can contact us.

These Booms Do Work, and They are Getting Better

We are still correcting the stories that came out a few weeks ago that said that hair and fur and fleece and feathers don't soak up oil and that our booms don't float etc.  Luckily, they were quickly shot down by thousands of people testing it themselves - that's the thing about such a low tech material, anyone with a haircut try soaking up oils and can stop propaganda for only using synthetic solutions.  

No boom is working great on the Corexit mixed sludge, but our booms work just as well on the sheen, lighter oils and plumes in the water and it's free and renewable.

As for floating higher in the water, many fishermen emailed us and suggested buoys and pool noodles saying if you can make steel ships float, floating a boom is really easy!

But, interestingly, it was the sinking oil that got us looking at our floating booms in a new light.  They have now been adapted to help with this crazy Corexit oil. We now have been donated thousands of recycled coffee bean burlap bags to cover the booms. With grommets added to make holes on the top for stringing to buoy line so the bags can hang down and catch more oil than simple floating boom.  This may be helpful in Michigan too, as we hear the heavy pipeline oil is also going under their boom.

An added benefit is that it looks better! A bunch of quilted burlap sacks are easier on the eyes than the hairy leg sausages.  And the burlap is a sturdy covering that lets water in and out and lets the hair trap the oil.  They can be used on river banks, shores, in nets, strung on line between piers etc.

New Program Idea

As we have so much fiber (hair, fur, fleece & feathers) and many of you have more boxes available, there is another similar use we could create.  There are many, many marinas in the world and all of their boats could use little bilge pads to soak up and remove oil in bilge tanks.  It has been suggested that green businesses start up that take these abundant recycled fibers, nylons and burlap and make these little pillows.  

We are working now with people in the Gulf to see if we can help the fishermen families by creating a program for this in the Gulf and having their pillows be sold to marinas elsewhere as a fundraiser.

Anyone who wants to help with this idea please let us know! We need idea people and people who could use or distribute the bilge pillows. We would also love to hear from anyone who wants to create these pillows on their own, whether in the US or in other countries.

* Photos are from www.matteroftrust.com

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