ROOTS Hair Char - Recycling Hair into Nitrogen Rich Fertilizer for Houseplants
Introducing our partnership with Break it Down Composting, Austin TX & Siren, a Lifestyle Boutique, Refillery and MORE
Using a unique pyrolysis system – a system for heating with little to no oxygen – Break it Down creates a nitrogen-rich charcoal powder fertilizer for houseplants and gardens from hair collected at hair salons and dog groomers. Now at Siren, once we collect a huge box of discarded hair, we ship it to Break it Down, they create ROOTS Hairchar Nitrogen Rich Fertilizer- then we buy it back and retail it to our clients in the boutique, which also helps offset the cost of the process! Each 4oz ROOTS Hairchar packet serves as a slow release, nitrogen rich soil amendment for 6-7 medium sized houseplants annually or a up to a 25sq ft outdoor garden space or lawn quarterly!
Hair does not compost in landfills easily due to the keratin content and can take decades to break down, if at all. After learning this fact, I knew we had to do something different than just throwing it away in the trash every day. After some deep dive researching, I found Break it Down based in Austin TX. At the time, they had been servicing just their surrounding area in Texas. Since we had nothing like it in the PNW, I reached out to inquire if they would consider partnering with a business outside of their state. After some thought, they offered a pilot program with us to figure it out together how easy it would be to ship boxes of hair across the United States to be turned into biochar!
Break it Down was founded by Jeff Paine & Melanie McFarlane in 2009, beginning as a simple solution to composting in their neighborhood and local businesses. Break it Down has now grown to a family of 20-plus employees from all walks of life and has become the go-to compost and recycling solution for businesses in Austin, Waco, and San Antonio and now Vancouver Washington in their very first partnership with a salon outside of Texas!
In addition to the composting services they provide to small businesses, Break it Down works with other organic material from businesses in innovative ways. For example, using the discarded meat & bones from businesses manufacturing bone broth for dog food, they create in turn a bone meal fertilizer. They’re also currently working with a nonprofit using bio-charred bones for water filtration – which is an effective & innovative way to remove fluoride and pollutants from groundwater in countries struggling to provide potable water.
With hard work and dirty hands, Break it Down truly makes an impact. Siren is proud to be the first salon in the PNW to partner with Break it Down and pioneer the way for more sustainable processes and composting in our region.
We are excited to have ROOTS Hairchar nitrogen rich fertilizer packets available in the boutique now. Thank you for your interest and support in our small business endeavors. We aim to keep a closed loop with our offerings whenever possible, and support real people running their own real businesses. Your support means everything to us. If you love what we’re up to, PLEASE SHARE - tell your friends about us, share our blog posts and talk about and share our community events. We would love to serve our community for years to come, and together we will.
Break it Down, Austin TX - www.breakitdowntexas.com + Instagram www.instagram.com/breakitdowntx
Siren, Vancouver WA - www.asirenslifeforme.com + Instagram www.instagram.com/siren___________
