h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey! lets face it as no one knows where it comes from - it must come from the inside. I really believe it is "leakage" - HOW CAN WE STOP THIS????

It comes from clothing. Basically, blokes sweat more than women, and the tiny loose strands of thread and such-like follow the laws of gravity and head downwards. They then convene in the belly button bit. This doesn't however, explain why such fluff is always a dark blueish colour.

No matter where it really comes from and why exactly it has its own peculiar colour, this is one of the world's most unregarded natural resource! It should be treasured, collected and treated. Recycled and reused. We could stop using sheep wool and start a brand new industry making clothes out of belly button fluff! Think about it!

I just did. Reckon I've lost my appetite ...

I think you may have hit on a great money making scheme.
Assume the average person creates 0.01 grams of belly button fluff a day.
Say an average sweater weighs 500 grams.
OK, so this means that it will take about 140 years for one man to collect enough fluff for one jumper.
But there are 6 billion people in the world. Assuming that it is only ecconomical to harvest fluff from men over 16, this will still be about 2.5 billion men. This means we can knit 50000 sweaters a day. Sell these at $30 a time, we can earn $1.5 million each day, or $550 million a year.
We'll be rich.
(These calculations are very approximate)