Recycled Human Hair Is Cleaning Belgian Water Imagine if the hair caught in your drain could actually help to clean it. That's what's happening in Belgium, where human hair is being recycled to help clean the country's water. Around the country, hairdressers are taking the hair they cut from their customers' heads and putting it into bags. These bags of hair are then collected by a non-profit organization that runs a project called "Hair Recycle." The hair collected by Hair Recycle is put through a machine and made into 60-centimeter-wide square mats. These mats can then be put into a drain to absorb oil and other pollution before it gets into a river or stream. According to the Hair Recycle website, 1 kilogram of hair can absorb up to 8 liters of oil. To take part in the project, hair salons have to pay a small fee. They then receive bags to collect the hair, and a sticker for their window, so they can show their customers that they are helping the environment. Salons in Luxembourg and the Netherlands are also taking part in the Hair Recycle project. Belgium's Hair Recycle is not the only hair recycling project, however. In the UK and Ireland, a company called Green Salon Collective is recycling hair and other waste from salons, including metal, paper, plastic and chemicals. And a similar company called Green Circle Salons is recycling hair and other salon waste in the US and Canada. So maybe hair in the drain can be a good thing?