Human hair, animal fur is being used to clean up oil spills – and you can help

(CNN) - A nonprofit based in San Francisco is using human hair and animal fur to help clean up oil spills.

A standard way to clean up oil on land is to use mats made from polypropylene, a non-biodegradable plastic. Hair, however, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up around five times its weight in oil.

So, the nonprofit called Matter of Trust is making special mats and booms (long tube-like products) out of human hair to clean up spills.

A single mat can absorb up to 1.5 gallons of oil.

Matter of Trust has produced over 300,000 booms and more than 40,000 hair mats for major cleanups, including the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The idea is catching on – the company is making mats with locally-sourced hair in 17 countries around the world.

If you are interested in donating hair or fur to the cause, go online to matteroftrust.org.

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