Summaries Of Our Natural Surplus Programs



Oil Spill Hair Mats
2000-present

MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Hair, Fur , Waste Wool, Feathers...

hair for hair mats

"You shampoo your hair because it gets greasy. Hair is very efficient at collecting oil out of the air, off surfaces like your skin and out of the water, even petroleum oil. Hair is adsorbant (as in "clings to" unlike absorbant which is to "soak up.") There are over 370,000 hair salons in the US and each collects about 1 pound of hair a day. Right now, most of that goes into the waste stream, but it should all be made into hairmats." - Phil McCrory, inventor and stylist (see pictures of mats used in SF Oil Spill).

Stylists and barbers are generously mailing in hair clippings to us and excited about this program and cleanup of oil spills. For more information and Salon sign up, please click here.

Salons are sweeping up their hair clippings into plastic garbage bags, reusing the large boxes they get from shampoo deliveries and mailing us the hair. As well as for emergency oil spills, the mats are extremely efficient for drip pans during oil changes or under leaky cars, machinery, pipelines, even as booms for storm drains... See Demo.

Hair
can also be stuffed into tubes (booms) made from recycled nylons, tied together to surround and contain a spill. See Photos In Our Posters. Also, hair is also great fertilizer with a slow nitrogen and karetin protein release. Hair prevents weed growth, snail infestation and reduces water evaporation up to 50%. Patent owners, Phil McCrory and our friends at SmartGrow.net, manufacture hairmats in China. These are for flower growers and farmers who use hairmat strips for commercial rows and in rounds for flower pots.








Oily-Hairmat-Remediation- SF Bay Area Treatability Study - Phase II

2007 - Present
Total Budget: $8,000
Total Raised: $800
Natural Surplus = Human Hair, Greenwaste, Worms

worms

Matter of Trust is the fiscal sponsor for Thomas Azwell's treatability study of hazardous waste oil collected by mats made from human hair clippings then detoxified by thermophilic compost of greenwaste. Finally, the mass is reduced by worms. After a few months the end result should be a rich worm castings fertilizer. This project is a practical, hands on study to further the cause of efficient closed loop systems for oil spill clean up.







Veggie Van.org

2003 - Present
Total Raised: $24,813.95
Direct Program Expenses: $23,573.25 = 95%
Natural Surplus = vegetable oil (including recycled restaurant grease)


veggie van

MofT is the fiscal agent for Veggie Van.org aka Biodiesel America.org. Josh Tickell, Founder, recycles used vegetable grease from restaurants and turns it into biodiesel. He shows us how we can reduce dependence on petroleum and has driven his biodiesel van across the United States filling up his tank with used french fry grease from McDonalds and the like. He is the author of "From The Fryer To The Fuel Tank," widely considered to be the bible for biodiesel. MofT is proud to also be the fiscal sponsor for Josh's full-length documentary "Fields of Fuel" (see our edo-educational programs). This film is based on his most recent book, "Biodiesel America".







Sun Train Feasibility Study
2006 - Present
Total Budget: $25,000
Natural Surplus = Sunlight / Solar Power

Solar Train

MofT is the fiscal agent for the clean energy, solar train tracks feasibility study in partnership with Sun Train USA. This is a long-term collaborative project that involves gathering several experts and researching benefits of train systems and installation of solar panels on rails.







Algae Blooms Used Biodiesel Production Feasibility Study
2006 - Present
MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Algae

algae

MofT is the coordinator of this program which unites Humboldt University, Biofuels, Native American Fisheries and the University of Hawaii. This is a long-term project with the mission of researching the benefits of collecting the suffocating algae blooms in the ocean and using the lipids for biodiesel.







Oily-Hairmat-Remediation- SF Bay Area Treatability Study - Phase I - COMPLETED
2007 - 2008
MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Human Hair, Mushrooms



Matter of Trust orchestrated a treatability study of hazardous waste oil collected by mats made from human hair clippings and the Presidio of San Francisco provided us with a space to research it's remedation. Paul Stamets of Fungi.com donated his oyster mushrooms and expertise to the project. For more information see details and photo galleries and Phase II.







Oily-Hairmat Remediation Research - COMPLETED

2002 - 2008
MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Hair, Mushrooms, Fungi, Mold

oil eating mushrooms

Matter of Trust and Fungi.com joined forces to research if once hair soaks up oil, mushrooms can eat the oily hair and detoxify the waste to create landscape grade compost. See photos and documentation

Part I: "You shampoo your hair because it gets greasy. Hair is very efficient at collecting oil out of the air, off surfaces like your skin and out of the water, even petroleum oil. Hair is adsorbent (as in "clings to" unlike absorbent which is to "soak up.") There are over 320,000 hair salons in the US and each collects about 1 pound of hair a day. Right now, most of that goes into the waste stream, but it should all be made into hair mats." Phil McCrory, inventor and barber (more info).


Part II: Fungus (mushrooms):
"The roots of mushrooms, called mycelium (http://www.fungi.com/info/sems/index.html), produce enzymes that unlock wood fibers, which are composed of strings of carbon-hydrogen molecules in the form of cellulose and lignin. Similarly oil and most petroleum products are held together by similar molecular bonds. This studies if mushroom mycelium breaks these bonds, and then re-constructs the oil into carbohydrates, fungal sugars, that make up the mushroom's physical structures." Paul Stamets, Fungi.com








San Francisco Bay Area Cosco-Busan Oil Spill Eco-Cleanup With Hairmats - COMPLETED

2007- 2008
MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Hair, Fur, Wool


Volunteer Byron Cleary showing hairmat with many oil dollops on Baker's Beach, San Francisco, CA, November 9, 2007

On November 7, 2007 a cargo ship named Cosco-Busan accidently hits the San Francisco Bay Bridge and spills 58,000 gallons of Bunker C fuel. Within 48 hours hundreds of concerned citizens pour onto Bay Area beaches and start soaking up oily blobs using mats made from human hair clippings. (see hairmat program)

Matter of Trust joined forces with surfers banding together to form a grassroots volunteer grassroots cleanup crew called "Kill the Spill." See our Beach cleanup details and Beach cleanup photo gallery.







SFE Biodiesel For MUNI Feasibility Study with CytoCulture - COMPLETED

2005-2006
Total Raised: $23,650
Direct Program Expenses: $21,723.50 = 90%
Natural Surplus = Vegetable Oil (including recycled restaurant grease) and algae

Biodiesel bus

MofT is the fiscal agent for the San Francisco Environment Biodiesel for MUNI research project. The goal is to have the entire San Francisco bus fleet running on B20 (20% biodiesel 80% regular diesel) by the end of the first quarter 2007.






Biodiesel Project For Oakland, Calfornia School Busses
- COMPLETED
2003 Spring Semester
MofT General Fund
Natural Surplus = Vegetable oil (including recycled restaurant french fries grease)

biodiesel bus

Oakland school busses proactively reduced their exhaust pipe emissions thanks to Michael's Transportation Services leading the trend towards using a biodiesel blend. Less pollution means healthier kids.

Biodiesel, which can be made from soybeans, sunflowers, algae and recycled restaurant fryer fat, has lower emissions than diesel exhaust. “The use of biodiesel, even at a 5% blend, eases the energy markets in the direction of sustainability," said Carol Misseldine, Sustainability Consultant to the City of Oakland.

One barrier to the widespread use of biodiesel is that it costs more than diesel. One way that barrier is being addressed is that restaurants are signing up to recycle their fryer grease for local school busses. Prices are also dependent upon buyer volume.

In order for this project to work, MofT has coordinated a Biodiesel Collaborative. Participants include City staff, biodiesel suppliers, distributors, and fleet managers who want to reduce the environmental impact of their fleets. One intention of the Collaborative is to create the volume necessary to bring the price down.

Future Collaborative participants, including the County of Marin and the City of Oakland, are considering moving in the direction of biodiesel use as well. The City of Berkeley has already had programs using 100% biodiesel for their city fleets.

Golden Gate Petroleum, All-Points Petroleum and Imperial Western Products (IWP) are Collaborative participants providing the biodiesel to Michael’s Transportation for the Oakland School Buses.

Note: This program was terminated when the Oakland School District filed for bankruptcy. Even though the District was unable to pay the final invoices for the biodiesel, Michael's Transportation Services (MTS) honored their agreement to the project and took a loss, providing cleaner fuel to the school kids for the remainder of the semester. It is a real pleasure to have worked with the team at MTS and we look forward to future projects when the school budgets are ready.

Note: Update 5 years later: July 2008,
petroleum prices have skyrocketed. Biodiesel is now cheaper than regular diesel. Algae is clearly the most ecological source of biodiesel for the transition in diesel dominent trucking and deveoping countries. New alternative electric and compressed air cars are hitting the developed countries' markets.