Oostkamp has hairdressers collect hair waste for reuse

The hairdressers have to pay to have the hair picked up, but Oostkamp wants to bear those costs, as the first municipality in Flanders.

Oostkamp pays

Stefanie Gassesmet from Fidja Hairstyle: “My grandfather used to be a plasterer and he went around the hair salons to get the hair for an occupation against the wall for more insulation and thickness and then he started plastering and I thought that was a very good initiative and I thought maybe someone can do more with that and that’s how I ended up at hair recycle.”

Hairdresser Stefanie has long known that hair can be useful. She teams up with non-profit organization Dung Dung, which recycles hair waste. Oostkamp now also asks the other 70 hairdressers in the municipality to participate in this project and supports them financially.

Mayor Jan De Keyser: “Hair is something that can have many functions, you should not throw it in a garbage bag, you can make wigs with it, but there are also other solutions, including making ointment to fight burns and use in water purification. As a municipality, we want to support that transition.”

Hair is a valuable raw material

Stefanie easily fills one bag a month, the non-profit organization comes to collect it. In this way hair becomes a valuable raw material.

“I actually hope that we get all hairdressers along,” says the mayor. “This makes you not only a hairdresser, but also an entrepreneur with great social added value. In fact, you become an innovative world improver, and that can be the success of this story.”