Southsea salon joins forces with Matters of Trust to tackle water pollution

Garbos hair salon, on Albert Road, has joined forces with Matter of Trust to help tackle water pollution by donating hair cuttings which will be turned into mats.

Owner, James Russel-Harris, 57, began donating his client’s hair after one of his senior hairdressers showed him the social media page of the organisation, which prompted him to get involved.

Matter of Trust is an organisation that aspires to link surplus items to help protect the environment and it creates felted matts made from hair cuttings which soak up petrochemicals in storm drains, wells, filtration systems, rivers and oceans.

The team at Matter of Trust want to change the habits that people have and encouraging more people to get involved with recycling and reusing items.

The salon has been donating hair for six months and wanted to give it a trial run before releasing it publicly, but the team are now confident that the process will work for them.

On average, the salon donates a couple of boxes a month which usually weigh three kilograms and James said that it puts it to good use.

He said: ‘We have so much waste product and I didn’t actually realise that people can use the hair and use it to make these mats.

‘It just seems such a waste, can you imagine how is being cut off and it is just being put in the bin. It is giving the staff a bit of a feel good because they feel like they are helping and the clients love that their hair is being used in a good way.’

It is free to donate the hair but the salon pay the shipping fee to ensure that the organisation receive the packages, but James said it is his ‘way of giving back a little’.

The salon has been running for over 25 years and is well established in Southsea, and they have recently put a poster up in their window to inform people that they are lending a hand in the fight to tackle water pollution.