Concerned citizens trying to do what little they can to help clean up the BP oil spill have hit a setback: According to an Associated Press story, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have stated that they will not be using hair booms to absorb the oil.
Organizations like Matter of Trust have been collecting hair to create oil-absorbing booms in an effort to help sop up the oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Salons like Kennedy Salon & Day Spa and Toni & Guy got involved and have been collecting hair and shipping it off to Matter of Trust for these booms. But these natural, hair-based barriers won’t be used in the cleanup efforts at all, it would appear. Instead, BP will be using commercial sorbent booms, which are very similar tools made from synthetic materials, meant to absorb oil and repel water. A quick check on the maritime supply site SlickBar shows that booms such as this are generally made from polypropylene, a material used in items like diapers for absorbency.
This article appears in May 20-26, 2010.