Turning Hair into Fertilizer: How Curiosity Sparked a Breakthrough in Organic Waste Innovation
From Hair to Here: What Happens When Composting Fails and Curiosity Kicks In
A surprising composting challenge led to the creation of Hairchar—a scalable, cost-effective biochar solution that turns salon waste into soil-friendly gold.
In 2015, during a Community Diversion Study, Austin Resource Recovery found that a whopping 80% of materials sent to local landfills could have been composted or recycled.
In the Summer of 2022, a biotech company contracted with Break it Down for the goal of composting hair. While the reasons for this contract are confidential, we took up the task as an exciting challenge and opportunity to learn.
Several thousand pounds of hair from the salon industry was shipped in. We made compost piles that mixed this hair with food waste and mulch and got everything cooking. Regular turning, occasional watering, and monitoring kept the piles going for nearly 6 months. Yet the hair persisted in nearly its original form through all of this – it simply refused to break down.
Eventually, we noticed that the clumps of the hair, while still fully intact, could nevertheless be ripped in half fairly easily. Obviously, some of the structural strength was no longer there, and we suspect it was the disulfide bonds in the hair which had finally broken. Still, it’s pretty tough to expect gardeners or landscapers to be satisfied by compost products which contain clumps of hair throughout!
When we talk about organic waste management, the common focus is on composting. Yet there are clearly many different types of organics, hair being just one example. And not all organics compost easily or at all!
Enter a twist to organic waste management – if something doesn’t compost well, maybe it’s because it’s not supposed to be composted? At Break it Down, when we come across these types of materials we naturally become curious about how else it can be processed. We tested out dehydration just in case, and that was a giant mess! We read about highly caustic liquid solutions that would dissolve hair and weren’t too excited. And then we ran trials biocharing the hair (heating it at low temps until it turns into a charcoal like powder). Curiosity may have killed the cat, but we believe it is the most important tool for the entrepreneur!
After numerous attempts and logistics, we eventually developed a solution that we knew we could scale. The result is Roots: Hairchar! A first of its kind solution for all of the hair that our society is currently shipping to the landfill. This method means that we come in significantly cheaper than other hair recycling services. How cool is that to generate fertilizer from the unneeded protein chains growing out of our heads (or on our dogs!).
We love how an initially straight-forward contract led us to imagine a better way to handle hair and produce fertilizer. And we’re also excited because we know it’s just the beginning – what organic material will we come across next that needs a fresh solution?
