Do you know that the hair has amazing properties? Yes, we have an incredible resource for the planet on our head! And Thierry Gras, hairdresser in Saint Zacharie, in the Var, understood it well.
Indeed, hair is an incredible raw material that has several virtues. First of all, it is lipophilic, meaning it absorbs all kinds of fats, including oils and hydrocarbons. But it is also hydrophilic (it absorbs water), incompressible, insulating and solid.
All these qualities make hair a real resource that deserves a second life after your visit to the hairdresser.
Its lipophilic quality makes it an ideal raw material for the manufacture of hydrocarbon filters. This is why Thierry Gras created the Coiffeurs Justes association in 2015. It allows many hairdressers to recycle hair which still represents 50% of their waste! Each hairdresser who is a member of the association stores the hair in fully recycled bags for collection and transport. Thierry Gras has made it possible to launch a new eco-responsible industry, the recovery of hair for the manufacture of hydrocarbon filters, accompanied by the Ecoscience Provence association which organized the study and produced convincing tests from this amazing fiber. .
Initiated by the Bretons during an unprecedented oil spill in 1978, the method of putting hair in tights to absorb the spilled oil had proved its worth. Unfortunately, history repeated itself and the initiative was replicated by many oil spill victims, especially by the Americans during the explosion of the DeepWater oil platform. Proven and approved method, even the French army asked the association Coiffeurs Justes, to get supplies on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Very good resource for combating marine pollution thanks to its capacity to absorb fatty substances such as diesel fuel and oils, one kilogram of hair can absorb up to 8 liters of hydrocarbons! Hair also has a bright future as an alternative fiber to plastic to be a reinforcer in materials or even insulators.
A front-line player in maritime and land pollution thanks to our 24/7 Emergen’Sea intervention service, we are very sensitive to this recycling and recovery process. Emergen’Sea responds to various types of pollution, in emergency situations in ports, coasts, lakes, rivers and stormwater networks for better protection of the environment, property and people. Absorbent socks are part of our essential and recurring material. As part of our Emergen’Sea contracts, we provide our members with decontamination equipment so that they have immediate stock in the event of pollution. They are also tools that are widely used in all of our interventions.
It is in a desire for eco-responsible approaches that we contacted Thierry Gras in order to study the possibility of obtaining hydrocarbon filters directly from manufacturers linked to the association. We would be delighted to contribute to this new recovery sector, and to participate in this green industry, for the sake of the environment.
https://coiffeurs-justes.com/
