Before global leaders take up the issue of plastic pollution this month, Japanese manicurist Naomi Arimoto is putting it on her nails.
On the beach near her home south of Tokyo, Arimoto carefully sifts the sand to extract tiny pieces of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on fake nails in her salon. The idea came to him after participating in a community clean-up campaign along the coast.
“When I saw with my own eyes how much plastic waste there was in the ocean, I became aware of environmental issues,” said Arimoto, 42. “I thought it was appalling.”
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an estimated 20 million tons of plastic waste is dumped into the environment every year. The UN summit, starting on November 25 in Busan, South Korea, aims to craft a landmark treaty that would set global limits on plastic production.
The United States, one of the world’s largest plastics manufacturers, indicated in August it would support a global treaty, a change that environmental watchdog Greenpeace has called a “watershed moment” in the fight against plastic pollution.
Arimoto opened a nail salon in her home in 2018 after being forced to give up her career as a social worker due to spinal cord disease, and she has been using umigomi, or “sea trash”, to create nail art since 2021. Are using. To collect the raw material, she uses a custom wheelchair to visit a nearby beach every month to collect microplastics that other cleanups might miss.
To turn marine trash into treasure, Arimoto starts by washing the plastic in fresh water and then sorting it by color. She cuts the plastic into small pieces and places them in a metal ring before melting the plastic to create a colorful disc that can be attached to artificial nails. The price of a set starts at 12,760 yen ($82.52).
Salon customer Kyoko Kurokawa, 57, said, “I know there are other things made from recycled materials, like toilet paper and other daily necessities, but I didn’t know you could have nails too, that was a surprise.” “
Arimoto admits that her nail art is a drop in the ocean of plastic pollution, but she says raising awareness of the problem is a step toward working together toward a solution.
“I hope that by putting these in front of people’s eyes, at their fingertips, they will enjoy fashion and also be more aware of environmental issues,” she said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
