Chigasaki, Kanagawa Pref. ¨C As global leaders take the problem of plastic pollution into their hands, Japanese manicurist Naomi Arimoto is putting it into her fingernails.
At the beach near her home in Kanagawa Prefecture, Arimoto carefully sifts sand for tiny bits of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on the false nails at her salon. She came up with the idea after taking part in community cleanups along the coast.
¡°I became aware of environmental issues the moment I saw with my own eyes just how much plastic waste was in the ocean,¡± 42-year-old Arimoto said. ¡°I thought it was horrifying.¡±
An estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic waste is dumped into the environment each year, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A United Nations summit in Busan, South Korea, being held from Monday to Sunday, aims to craft a landmark treaty that will set global caps on plastic production.
The United States, one of the world¡¯s biggest plastic makers, signaled in August that it would support a global treaty, a shift that environmental watchdog Greenpeace called a ¡°watershed moment¡± in the fight against plastic pollution.
Arimoto opened a nail salon in her home in 2018 after a spinal condition forced her to give up her career as a social worker, and she¡¯s been using umigomi, or ¡°sea trash,¡± to make nail art since 2021. To gather the raw materials, she uses a custom wheelchair to scour the nearby beach every month to gather microplastics that other cleaners might miss.
To turn sea trash into treasure, Arimoto starts by rinsing the plastic in fresh water and then sorting it by color. She cuts the plastic into smaller pieces and places them into a metal ring before melting the plastic to form a colorful disc that can be attached to the artificial nails. Prices for a set start at ?12,760 (about $83).
¡°I know there are other things made of recycled materials, like toilet paper and other daily necessities, but I had no idea you could have nails too, that was a surprise,¡± said salon customer Kyoko Kurokawa, 57.
Arimoto acknowledges that her nail art is a drop in an ocean of plastic pollution, but says raising consciousness of the problem is a step toward working together for a solution.
¡°I hope that by putting these in front of people¡¯s eyes, on their fingertips, they¡¯ll enjoy fashion while also becoming more aware of environmental issues,¡± she said.
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