Now You Can Recycle Your Dog’s Hair

The founders are not actually groomers but hairdressers—as Green Salon Collective, they have been recycling hair from salons for two years now and have recycled close to 10 tonnes of hair.

UK Green Groomers Collective Project Manager Jess Rigg with her dog

“One of the founders has a Schnauzer and began putting Schnauzer hair into the Green Salon Collective process and found dog hair was just as good if not better than human hair!” says Mia, Customer Support for Green Groomers Collective.

Following requests from salons asking if they accept pet hair, they launched Green Groomers Collective specifically for the grooming industry.

Photo andrii_z/bigstock.com

Participating grooming salons collect the hair in a provided box, charging each client a $1 eco fee which covers the recycling costs. The recycled hair is used in all sorts of extraordinary ways, from creating compost to cleaning up oil spills. Hair booms and hair mats are created by tightly packed hair clippings of any length into cotton or nylon tubes. Placed on water or beaches, they are remarkably effective at stopping the spread of oil, saving wildlife and the natural environment.

Green Groomer Collective is currently operational in all of the UK and Ireland, with plans to be in many European and Asian countries by the end of the year. North America will hopefully follow in 2023. Find them at greengroomerscollective.com.

This article originally appeared in the award-winning Modern Dog magazine. Subscribe today!